19 quotes
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.
Songs of Experience (1794)
Grown old in love from seven till seven times seven,
I oft have wished for Hell for ease from Heaven.
Poems from Blake's Notebook (1807)
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)
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)
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)
Art can never exist without Naked Beauty displayed.
To Chloe's breast young Cupid slily stole,
But he crept in at Myra's pocket-hole.
Sleep, sleep, beauty bright,
Dreaming o'er the joys of night.
Sleep, sleep: in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.
Poems from Blake's Notebook (1791)
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?
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)
Fun I love, but too much Fun is of all things the most loathsom. Mirth is better than Fun & Happiness is better than Mirth.
Letter to Revd. Dr. Trusler (1799)
Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another's loss of ease,
And builds a hell in heaven's despite.
Songs of Experience (1794)
They suppose that Woman's Love is Sin; in consequence all the Loves & Graces with them are Sin.
Annotations to Lavater (1788)
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.
Poetical Sketches (1783)
Children of the future Age
Reading this indignant page,
Know that in a former time
Love! sweet Love! was thought a crime.
Songs of Experience (1794)
Then old Nobodaddy aloft
Farted and belched and coughed,
And said, "I love hanging and drawing and quartering
Every bit as well as war and slaughtering."
Poems from Blake's Notebook (1791)
The Angel that presided o'er my birth
Said, "Little creature, formed of joy and mirth,
Go love without the help of any thing on earth."
Poems from Blake's Notebook (1807)
How sweet I roamed 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!
Poetical Sketches (1783)