William Blake: Quotations

William Blake

William Blake (1757-1827)

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”

Auguries of Innocence

“There can be no Good Will. Will is always Evil; it is persecution to others or selfishness.”

Annotations to Swedenborg

“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

“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”

Proverbs of Hell

“The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.”

Proverbs of Hell

“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”

Proverbs of Hell

“Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And, when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”

Songs of Experience