You smile with pomp and rigor, you talk of benevolence and virtue; I act with benevolence and virtue and get murdered time after time.
William BlakeSweet babe, in thy face Soft desires I can trace, Secret joys and secret smiles, Little pretty infant wiles.
William BlakeAnd did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen?
William BlakeThinking as I do that the Creator of this world is a very cruel being, and being a worshipper of Christ, I cannot help saying: ''the Son, O how unlike the Father!'' First God Almighty comes with a thump on the head. Then Jesus Christ comes with a balm to heal it.
William BlakeMan 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 BlakeEmbraces are comminglings from the head even to the feet, And not a pompous high priest entering by a secret place.
William BlakeYou cannot have Liberty in this world without what you call Moral Virtue, and you cannot have Moral Virtue without the slavery of that half of the human race who hate what you call Moral Virtue.
William BlakeJerusalem (1804) And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green And was the holy lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen And did the countenance divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills And was Jerusalem builded here Among those dark Satanic mills Bring me my bow of burning gold Bring me my arrows of desire Bring me my spears o'clouds unfold Bring me my chariot of fire I will not cease from mental fight Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand 'Til we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land
William BlakeWant of money and the distress of a thief can never be alleged as the cause of his thieving, for many honest people endure greater hardships with fortitude. We must therefore seek the cause elsewhere than in want of money, for that is the miser's passion, not the thief s.
William BlakeWhen the doors of perception are cleansed, men will see things as they truly are, infinite.
William BlakeAnd priests in black gowns were walking their rounds and binding with briars my joys and desires. (from 'The Garden of Love')
William BlakeO thou who passest through our valleys in Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat That flames from their large nostrils! Thou, O Summer, Oft pitchest here thy golden tent, and oft Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld With joy thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair.
William BlakeAnd I watered it in fears, Night and morning with my tears; And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles.
William BlakeTyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
William BlakeThou fair-hair'd angel of the evening, Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!
William BlakeHe loves to sit and hear me sing, Then, laughing, sports and plays with me; Then stretches out my golden wing, And mocks my loss of liberty.
William BlakeWhere others see but the dawn coming over the hill, I see the soul of God shouting for joy.
William BlakeThose who restrain their desires, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.
William BlakeI must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.
William BlakeThe generations of men run on in the tide of time, but leave their destined lineaments permanent for ever and ever.
William BlakeAs the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys.
William Blake