William Blake 1757–1827
English poet 

1. 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’ (1803) l. 1
2. A robin red breast in a cage
   Puts all Heaven in a rage.
   
    
   ‘Auguries of Innocence’ (1803) l. 5
3. A truth that's told with bad intent
   Beats all the lies you can invent.
   
    
   ‘Auguries of Innocence’ (1803) l. 53
4. Man was made for joy and woe;
   And when this we rightly know
   Thro' the world we safely go.
   
    
   ‘Auguries of Innocence’ (c.1803) l. 56
5. The strongest poison ever known
   Came from Caesar's laurel crown.
   
    
   ‘Auguries of Innocence’ (1803) l. 97
6. If the Sun and Moon should doubt,
   They'd immediately go out.
   To be in a passion you good may do,
   But no good if a passion is in you.
   
    
   ‘Auguries of Innocence’ (1803) l. 109
7. Some are born to sweet delight,
   Some are born to endless night.
   
    
   ‘Auguries of Innocence’ (1803) l. 123
8. Does the eagle know what is in the pit?
   Or wilt thou go ask the mole:
   Can wisdom be put in a silver rod?
   Or love in a golden bowl?
   
    
   The Book of Thel (1789) plate i ‘Thel's Motto’
9. Everything that lives,
   Lives not alone, nor for itself.
   
    
   The Book of Thel (1789) plate 3, l. 26
10. This life's dim windows of the soul
    Distorts the heavens from pole to pole
    And leads you to believe a lie
    When you see with, not through, the eye.
    
     
    The Everlasting Gospel (1818) (d) l. 99
11. Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy.
    
     
    The Four Zoas ‘Night the Second’
12. I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man's.
    I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.
    
     
    Jerusalem (1815) ‘Chapter 1’ (plate 10, l. 20)
13. He who would do good to another, must do it in minute particulars.
    General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite and flatterer.
    
     
    Jerusalem (1815) ‘Chapter 3’ (plate 55, l. 60)
14. I give you the end of a golden string;
    Only wind it into a ball:
    It will lead you in at Heaven's gate,
    Built in Jerusalem's wall.
    
     
    Jerusalem (1815) ‘To the Christians’ (plate 77) “I give you the end of a golden string”
15. It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.
    
     
    Jerusalem (1815) ‘Chapter 4’ (plate 91, l. 1)
16. Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘The Argument’
17. Energy is Eternal Delight.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘The voice of the Devil’
18. The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true Poet, and of the Devil's party without knowing it.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘The voice of the Devil’ (note)
19. The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
20. Prudence is a rich, ugly, old maid courted by Incapacity.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
21. He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
22. A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
23. Eternity is in love with the productions of time.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
24. No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
25. If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
26. Prisons are built with stones of Law, brothels with bricks of Religion.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
27. The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.
    The lust of the goat is the bounty of God.
    The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God.
    The nakedness of woman is the work of God.
    
     
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
28. The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
29. You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
30. Damn braces: Bless relaxes.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
31. Exuberance is beauty.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
32. Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘Proverbs of Hell’
33. If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) ‘A Memorable Fancy’ plate 14
34. 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 these dark Satanic mills?
    
     
    Milton (1804–10) preface ‘And did those feet in ancient time’
35. Bring me my bow of burning gold:
    Bring me my arrows of desire:
    Bring me my spear: O clouds, unfold!
    Bring me my chariot of fire.
    
     
    I will not cease from mental fight,
    Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
    Till we have built Jerusalem,
    In England's green and pleasant land.
    
     
    Milton (1804–10) preface ‘And did those feet in ancient time’
36. Mock on, mock on Voltaire, Rousseau:
    Mock on, mock on: tis all in vain!
    You throw the sand against the wind,
    And the wind blows it back again.
    
     
    MS Note-Book
37. The atoms of Democritus
    And Newton's particles of light
    Are sands upon the Red sea shore,
    Where Israel's tents do shine so bright.
    
     
    MS Note-Book
38. Great things are done when men and mountains meet;
    This is not done by jostling in the street.
    
     
    MS Note-Book
39. He who binds to himself a joy
    Doth the winged life destroy;
    But he who kisses the joy as it flies
    Lives in Eternity's sunrise.
    
     
    MS Note-Book ‘Several Questions Answered’—“He who binds to himself a joy”
40. What is it men in women do require?
    The lineaments of gratified desire.
    What is it women do in men require?
    The lineaments of gratified desire.
    
     
    MS Note-Book ‘Several Questions Answered’—“What is it men in women do require”
41. Never pain to tell thy love
    Love that never told can be;
    For the gentle wind does move
    Silently, invisibly.
    
     
    MS Note-Book
42. Piping down the valleys wild,
    Piping songs of pleasant glee,
    On a cloud I saw a child.
    
     
    Songs of Innocence (1789) introduction
43. When my mother died I was very young,
    And my father sold me while yet my tongue
    Could scarcely cry ‘'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!’
    So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.
    
     
    Songs of Innocence (1789) ‘The Chimney Sweeper’
44. For Mercy has a human heart,
    Pity a human face,
    And Love, the human form divine,
    And Peace, the human dress.
    
     
    Songs of Innocence (1789) ‘The Divine Image’
45. Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.
    
     
    Songs of Innocence (1789) ‘Holy Thursday’
46. Little Lamb who made thee?
    Dost thou know who made thee?
    
     
    Songs of Innocence (1789) ‘The Lamb’
47. My mother bore me in the southern wild,
    And I am black, but O! my soul is white;
    White as an angel is the English child:
    But I am black as if bereaved of light.
    
     
    Songs of Innocence (1789) ‘The Little Black Boy’
48. Can I see another's woe,
    And not be in sorrow too?
    Can I see another's grief,
    And not seek for kind relief?
    
     
    Songs of Innocence (1789) ‘On Another's Sorrow’
49. Hear the voice of the Bard!
    Who present, past, and future, sees.
    
     
    Songs of Experience (1794) introduction
50. Ah, Sun-flower! weary of time,
    Who countest the steps of the Sun.
    
     
    Songs of Experience (1794) ‘Ah, Sun-flower!’
51. 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) ‘The Clod and the Pebble’
52. Love seeketh only Self to please,
    To bind another to its delight,
    Joys in another's loss of ease,
    And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite.
    
     
    Songs of Experience (1794) ‘The Clod and the Pebble’
53. My mother groaned! my father wept.
    Into the dangerous world I leapt:
    Helpless, naked, piping loud;
    Like a fiend hid in a cloud.
    
     
    Songs of Experience (1794) ‘Infant Sorrow’
54. Children of the future age,
    Reading this indignant page:
    Know that in a former time
    Love! sweet love! was thought a crime.
    
     
    Songs of Experience (1794) ‘A Little Girl Lost’
55. I was angry with my friend;
    I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
    I was angry with my foe:
    I told it not, my wrath did grow.
    
     
    Songs of Experience (1794) ‘A Poison Tree’
56. In the morning glad I see,
    My foe outstretched beneath the tree
    
     
    Songs of Experience (1794) ‘A Poison Tree’
57. O Rose, thou art sick!
    The invisible worm
    That flies in the night,
    In the howling storm:
    
     
    Has found out thy bed
    Of crimson joy:
    And his dark secret love
    Does thy life destroy.
    
     
    Songs of Experience (1794) ‘The Sick Rose’
58. Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
    In the forests of the night;
    What immortal hand or eye,
    Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
    
     
    Songs of Experience (1794) ‘The Tiger’
59. What the hand dare seize the fire?
    
     
    Songs of Experience (1794) ‘The Tiger’
60. 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?
    
     
    Songs of Experience (1794) ‘The Tiger’
61. 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?
    
     
    Songs of Experience (1794) ‘The Tiger’
62. Cruelty has a human heart,
    And Jealousy a human face;
    Terror the human form divine,
    And Secrecy the human dress.
    
     
    ‘A Divine Image’; etched but not included in Songs of Experience (1794); see Blake
63. The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.
    letter to Rev. Dr Trusler, 23 August 1799
64. The ruins of time build mansions in eternity.
    letter to William Hayley, 6 May 1800