Quotes from William Blake

Man has no Body distinct from his Soul for that called Body is a portion of Soul discerned by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.

Enough! or too much.

He who doubts from what he seesWill ne'er believe, do what you please.If the sun and moon should doubtThey'd immediately go out.

Hear the voice of the Bard!Who Present, Past, and Future sees,Whose ears have heardThe Holy WordThat walk'd among the ancient trees.

The man who never in his mind and thoughts travel'd to heaven is no artist.

In every cry of every man,In every infant's cry of fear,In every voice, in every ban,The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.

The hours of folly are measured by the clock but of wisdom, no clock can measure.

[L]et light Rise from the chambers of the east, and bring The honey'd dew that cometh on waking day. O radiant morning...

How sweet I roam'd from field to field,And tasted all the summer's pride,Till I the prince of love beheld,Who in the sunny beams did glide!

Love to faults is always blind,Always is to joy inclin'd,Lawless, wing'd, and unconfin'd,And breaks all chains from every mind.

My specter around me night and dayLike a wild beast guards my way.My emanation far withinWeeps incessantly for my sin.

My mother bore me in the southern wild,And I am black, but O! my soul is white;White as an angel is the English child,But I am black as if bereav'd of light.

When I tell any truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do.

When my mother died I was very young,And my father sold me while yet my tongueCould scarcely cry 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.

Poetry fettered fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed, or flourish, in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish!

Never seek to tell thy loveLove that never told can be;For the gentle wind does moveSilently, invisibly.I told my love, I told my love,I told her all my heart;Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears—Ah, she doth depart.Soon as she was gone from meA traveler came bySilently, invisibly—Oh, was no deny.

The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal the good one really does.

Pity would be no more,If we did not make somebody poor;And Mercy no more could be,If all were as happy as we.

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.

What is a wife and what is a harlot? What is a church and what is a theatre? are they two and not one? Can they exist separate? Are not religion and politics the same thing? Brotherhood is religion. O demonstrations of reason dividing families in cruelty and pride!

Abstinence sows sand all overThe ruddy limbs and flaming hair,But Desire gratifiedPlants fruits of life and beauty there.

He loves to sit and hear me sing,Then, laughing, sports and plays with me;Then stretches out my golden wing,And mocks my loss of liberty.

Turn away no more.Why wilt thou turn away?The starry floor,The wat'ry shoreIs giv'n thee till the break of day.

He withers all in silence, and in his hand Unclothes the earth and freezes up frail life.