Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

William Blake Poet

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United Kingdom
  • Born: Nov 28, 1757
  • Died: Aug 12, 1827

William Blake was an English painter, poet and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". In 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Although he lived in London his entire life, he produced a diverse and symbolically rich oeuvre, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God" or "human existence itself".

Although Blake was considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, he is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of the Romantic movement and as "Pre-Romantic".

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.

The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.

Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death.

Active Evil is better than Passive Good.

Where mercy, love, and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too.

The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.

Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome. Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth.

Great things are done when men and mountains meet.

Eternity is in love with the productions of time.

What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.

Travelers repose and dream among my leaves.

The true method of knowledge is experiment.

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.

Prisons are built with stones of Law. Brothels with the bricks of religion.

Opposition is true friendship.

Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow.

The man who never in his mind and thoughts travel'd to heaven is no artist.

The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.

The weak in courage is strong in cunning.

Exuberance is beauty.

Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.

The hours of folly are measured by the clock but of wisdom, no clock can measure.

When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do.

He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sun rise.

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.

I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed.

The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal the good one really does.

Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.

A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.

Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief?