182 quotes
The look of love alarms
Because 'tis filled with fire;
But the look of soft deceit
Shall win the lover's hire.
Poems from Blake's Notebook (1791)
When thou seest an Eagle, thou seest a portion of Genius; lift up thy head!
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
Abstinence sows sand all over
The ruddy limbs and flaming hair,
But desire gratified
Plants fruits of life and beauty there.
Poems from Blake's Notebook (1791)
Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
Every tear from every eye
Becomes a babe in eternity.
Auguries of Innocence (1803)
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
Mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau.
Mock on, mock on — 'tis all in vain!
You throw the sand against the wind,
And the wind blows it back again.
Poems from Blake's Notebook (1804)
He who desires but acts not breeds pestilence.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
The cistern contains: the fountain overflows.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
Without contraries there is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate are necessary to human existence.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
If you have formed a circle to go into,
Go into it yourself and see how you would do.
Poems from Blake's Notebook (1807)
Cruelty has a human heart,
And Jealousy a human face;
Terror the human form divine,
And Secrecy the human dress.
Songs of Experience (1794)
He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave shall ne'er get out.
Auguries of Innocence (1803)
True superstition is ignorant honesty & this is beloved of god and man.
Annotations to Lavater (1788)
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the wingèd life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise.
Poems from Blake's Notebook (1791)
A dog starved at his master's gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.
Auguries of Innocence (1803)
Art can never exist without Naked Beauty displayed.
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.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)