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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 bereaved of light.

— William Blake Songs of Innocence (1789)

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More quotes by William Blake

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

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)

Time is the mercy of Eternity; without Time's swiftness Which is the swiftest of all things, all were eternal torment.

Milton (1809)

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)

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

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)

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

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)

All William Blake quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Blake (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.