William Blake

William Blake

43 quotes

William Blake is an English poet and artist whose words have traveled far beyond their original audience. Their thinking spans from Men to Art, revealing a mind that refused to stay in one lane. We feature 58 quotes from William Blake spanning Men, Art, Wisdom, Science, and Religion, making them one of the most prolific voices in our archive. Consider this gem from William Blake: "Travelers repose and dream among my leaves."

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

— William Blake

Friendship

All Quotes by William Blake

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

— William Blake

Business

“Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed.”

— William Blake

Art

“Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.”

— William Blake

Sympathy

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

— William Blake

Forgiveness

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

— William Blake

Time

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

— William Blake

Imagination

“What is a wife and what is a harlot? What is a church and what is a theatre? are they two and not one? Can they exist separate? Are not religion and politics the same thing? Brotherhood is religion. O demonstrations of reason dividing families in cruelty and pride!”

— William Blake

Politics

“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.”

— William Blake

Happiness

“The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.”

— William Blake

Thankful

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

— William Blake

God

“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.”

— William Blake

Great

“To the eyes of a miser a guinea is more beautiful than the sun, and a bag worn with the use of money has more beautiful proportions than a vine filled with grapes.”

— William Blake

Money

“Man has no Body distinct from his Soul for that called Body is a portion of Soul discerned by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.”

— William Blake

Age

“It is not because angels are holier than men or devils that makes them angels, but because they do not expect holiness from one another, but from God only.”

— William Blake

God

“The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.”

— William Blake

Forgiveness

“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.”

— William Blake

Life

“Exuberance is beauty.”

— William Blake

Beauty

“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.”

— William Blake

Truth

“What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price of all the man hath, his house, his wife, his children.”

— William Blake

Experience

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

— William Blake

Wisdom