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When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it.

— William Blake

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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 →

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Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.

Albert Einstein Essay to Leo Baeck (1953)

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be.

William Hazlitt Lectures on the English Comic Writers (1819)

Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.

Karl Barth The Harper Book of Quotations (1993)

Care to our coffin adds a nail, no doubt,
And every grin so merry draws one out.

John Wolcot

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.