William Blake

"Why does the Raven cry aloud and no eye pities her? Why fall the Sparrow & the Robin in the foodless winter? Faint! shivering they sit on leafless bush, or frozen stone Wearied with seeking food across the snowy waste; the little Heart, cold; and the little tongue consum'd, that once in thoughtless joy Gave songs of gratitude to waving corn fields round their nest. Why howl the Lion & the Wolf? why do they roam abroad? Deluded by summers heat they sport in enormous love And cast their young out to the hungry wilds & sandy desarts"

"The Spider sits in his labourd Web, eager watching for the Fly Presently comes a famishd Bird & takes away the Spider His Web is left all desolate, that his little anxious heart So careful wove; & spread it out with sighs and weariness."

"Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believed."

"One thought fills immensity."

"The weak in courage is strong in cunning."

"Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires."

"The hours of folly are measur'd by the clock, but of wisdom no clock can measure."

"Opposition is true Friendship."

"If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise."

"The cistern contains: the fountain overflows."

"The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow."

"You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough."

"Exuberance is Beauty."

"Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius."

"Then every man, of every clime, That prays in his distress, Prays to the human form divine, Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace. And all must love the human form, In heathen, Turk, or Jew; Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell There God is dwelling too."

"To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love All pray in their distress; And to these virtues of delight Return their thankfulness.For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is God, our father dear, And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is Man, his child and care.For Mercy has a human heart, Pity a human face, And Love, the human form divine, And Peace, the human dress."

"Eternity is in love with the productions of time."

"The busy bee has no time for sorrow."

"The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind."

"No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings."

"Prisons are built with stones of law; brothels with bricks of religion."

"The pride of the peacock is the glory of God. The lust of the goat is the bounty of God. The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God. The nakedness of woman is the work of God."

"If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite."

"He who desires but acts not breeds pestilence."

"Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night."

"The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction."

"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."

"When thou seest an Eagle, thou seest a portion of Genius; lift up thy head!"

"I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear To lean in joy upon our Father's knee; And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair, And be like him and he will then love me."

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

"Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained; and the restrainer or reason usurps its place & governs the unwilling."

"A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. He whose face gives no light shall never become a star."

"The moon like a flower In heaven's high bower, With silent delight, Sits and smiles on the night."

"And there the lion's ruddy eyes Shall flow with tears of gold, And pitying the tender cries, And walking round the fold, Saying: "Wrath by his meekness, And by his health, sickness, Is driven away From our immortal day.""

"For washed in life's river, My bright mane forever Shall shine like the gold As Iguard o'er the fold."

"When the voices of children are heard on the green And laughing is heard on the hill, My heart is at rest within my breast And everything else is still."

"Can I see another's woe, And not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, And not seek for kind relief?"

"Nothing can be more contemptible than to suppose Public RECORDS to be True."

"That the Jews assumed a right Exclusively to the benefits of God. will be a lasting witness against them. & the same will it be against Christians"

"In my Brain are studies & Chambers fill'd with books & pictures of old, which I wrote & painted in ages of Eternity before my mortal life;"

"I am not ashamed, afraid, or averse to tell you what Ought to be Told: That I am under the direction of Messengers from Heaven, Daily & Nightly;"

"And now let me finish with assuring you that, Tho I have been very unhappy, I am so no longer. I am again. Emerged into the light of day; I still & shall to Eternity Embrace Christianity and Adore him who is the Express image of God; but I have travel'd thro' Perils & Darkness not unlike a Champion. I have Conquer'd, and shall still Go on Conquering. Nothing can withstand the fury of my Course among the Stars of God & in the Abysses of the Accuser. My Enthusiasm is still what it was, only Enlarged and conform'd."

"I have labour'd hard indeed, & have been borne on angel's wings. Till we meet I beg of God our Saviour to be with you & me, & yours & mine. Pray give my & my wife's love to Mrs Butts & Family, & believe me to remain."

"Degrade first the arts if you'd mankind degrade, Hire idiots to paint with cold light and hot shade."

"To Generalize is to be an Idiot. To Particularize is the Alone Distinction of Merit — General Knowledges are those Knowledges that Idiots possess."

"The Foundation of Empire is Art & Science Remove them or Degrade them & the Empire is No More — Empire follows Art & Not Vice Versa as Englishmen suppose."

"Rintrah roars and shakes his fires in the burden'd air; Hungry clouds swag on the deep."

"Without contraries there is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate are necessary to human existence."

"The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true poet and of the Devils' party without knowing it."

"All wholesome food is caught without a net or a trap."