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William Blake Quotes

1757–1827 England

William Blake (November 28 1757 – August 12 1827) was an English poet, Christian mystic, painter, printmaker, and engraver.

England
Feminists
Painters
Poets
Theologians

Also known as: Blake, Blake, William

Random William Blake quote

182 quotes

Turn away no more;
Why wilt thou turn away?
The starry floor,
The watery shore
Is given thee till the break of day.

Songs of Experience (1794)

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

Auguries of Innocence (1803)

Man was made for joy and woe,
And when this we rightly know
Through the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.

Auguries of Innocence (1803)

I am not a God afar off, I am a brother and friend;
Within your bosoms I reside, and you reside in me:
Lo! we are One; forgiving all Evil; Not seeking recompense!

Jerusalem The Emanation of The Giant Albion (1803)

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

Songs of Innocence (1789)

Sing louder around
To the bells' cheerful sound,
While our sports shall be seen
On the ecchoing green.

Songs of Innocence (1789)

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

Songs of Innocence (1789)

Sweet babe, in thy face
Soft desires I can trace,
Secret joys and secret smiles,
Little pretty infant wiles.

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.

Songs of Experience (1794)

There is a smile of love,
And there is a smile of deceit,
And there is a smile of smiles
In which these two smiles meet.

Poems from the Pickering Manuscript (1805)

Does the Eagle know what is in the pit?
Or wilt thou go ask the Mole?
Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod?
Or Love in a golden bowl?

If the Sun and Moon should doubt,
They'd immediately go out.

Auguries of Innocence (1803)

This cabinet is formed of gold
And pearl and crystal shining bright,
And within it opens into a world
And a little lovely moony night.

Poems from the Pickering Manuscript (1805)

Every Thing has its Vermin O Spectre of the Sleeping Dead!

Jerusalem The Emanation of The Giant Albion (1803)

The sword sung on the barren heath,
The sickle in the fruitful field;
The sword he sung a song of death,
But could not make the sickle yield.

Poems from Blake's Notebook (1791)

How have you left the ancient love
That bards of old enjoyed in you!
The languid strings do scarcely move!
The sound is forced, the notes are few!

Poetical Sketches (1783)

But most, thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.

Songs of Experience (1794)

For a tear is an intellectual thing,
And a sigh is the sword of an Angel King,
And the bitter groan of the martyr's woe
Is an arrow from the Almighty's bow.

Poems from the Pickering Manuscript (1805)

If a thing loves, it is infinite.

Annotations to Swedenborg (1788)

But to go to school in a summer morn,
Oh, it drives all joy away!
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day—
In sighing and dismay.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Blake (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.