William Blake > Quotes

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

“A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.”
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”
― William Blake

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”
― William Blake

“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”
― William Blake

“What is now proved was once only imagined.”
― William Blake

“Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”
― William Blake

“I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man's. I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.”
― William Blake, Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion

“The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself.”
― William Blake

“The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.”
― William Blake

“To generalize is to be an idiot.”
― William Blake

“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

“Every Night and every Morn
Some to Misery are born.
Every Morn and every Night
Some are born to Sweet Delight,
Some are born to Endless Night.”
― William Blake

“The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.”
― William Blake

“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

“I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe;
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I water'd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears;
And I sunnéd it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole,
When the night had veil'd the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.”
― William Blake, Songs of Experience

“Love seeketh not itself to please, nor for itself hath any care, but for another gives its ease, and builds a Heaven in Hell's despair.”
― William Blake, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience

“I was walking among the fires of Hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius; which to Angels look like torment and insanity.”
― William Blake

“Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed.”
― William Blake

“He who kisses joy as it flies by will live in eternity's sunrise.”
― William Blake

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is - infinite.”
― William Blake

“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom...You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.”
― William Blake, Proverbs of Hell

“Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

“Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.”
― William Blake

“For all eternity, I forgive you and you forgive me.”
― William Blake

“He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.”
― William Blake