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If a thing loves, it is infinite.William Blake
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Eternity is in love with the productions of time.William Blake
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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.William Blake
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What is now proved was once only imagined.William Blake
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A man can't soar too high, when he flies with his own wings.William Blake
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Exuberance is beauty.William Blake
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A truth that's told with bad intent Beats all the lies you can invent.William Blake
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The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.William Blake
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Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?William Blake
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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
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If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is - infinite.William Blake
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For every thing that lives is Holy.William Blake
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The Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel dined with me, and I asked them how they dared so roundly to assert, that God spoke to them; and whether they did not think at the time, that they would be misunderstood, & so be the cause of imposition. Isaiah answer'd, I saw no God, nor heard any, in a finite organical perception; but my senses discover'd the infinite in every thing, and as I was then persuaded, & remain confirm'd; that the voice of honest indignation is the voice of God, I cared not for consequences but wrote.William Blake
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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?William Blake
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The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.William Blake
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Better to shun the bait than struggle in the snare.William Blake
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What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.William Blake
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He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.William Blake
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I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man's. I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.William Blake
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Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed.William Blake
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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.William Blake
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The lamb misused breeds public strife And yet forgives the butcher's knife.William Blake
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I wander through each chartered street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow; A mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every man, In every infant’s cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forged manacles I hear: How the chimney-sweeper’s cry Every blackening church appals, And the hapless soldier’s sigh Runs in blood down palace-walls. But most, through midnight streets I hear How the youthful harlot’s curse Blasts the new-born infant’s tear, And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.William Blake
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A Robin Redbreast in a CagePuts all Heaven in a Rage.A dove house fill’d with doves and pigeons Shudders Hell thro’ all its regions. A Dog starv’d at his Master’s GatePredicts the ruin of the State.A Horse misus’d upon the RoadCalls to Heaven for Human blood. Each outcry of the hunted HareA fiber from the Brain does tear.William Blake
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I went to the Garden of Love, And saw what I never had seen: A Chapel was built in the midst, Where I used to play on the green. And the gates of this Chapel were shut, And 'Thou shalt not' writ over the door; So I turn'd to the Garden of Love, That so many sweet flowers bore. And I saw it was filled with graves, And tomb-stones where flowers should be: And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds, And binding with briars, my joys & desires.William Blake
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But to go to school in a summer morn, O! It drives all joy away; Under a cruel eye outworn, The little ones spend the day In sighing and dismay.William Blake
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How can the bird that is born for joy Sit in a cage and sing? How can a child, when fears annoy, But droop his tender wing, And forget his youthful spring?William Blake
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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.William Blake
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If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt, they'd immediately go out.William Blake
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The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.William Blake
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Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius.William Blake
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Excuse my enthusiasm or rather madness, for I am really drunk with intellectual vision whenever I take a pencil or graver into my hand.William Blake
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And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds, And binding with briars, my joys & desires.William Blake
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The Devil answer'd: bray a fool in a morter with wheat, yet shall not his folly be beaten out of him; if Jesus Christ is the greatest man, you ought to love him in the greatest degree; now hear how he has given his sanction to the law of ten commandments: did he not mock at the sabbath, and so mock the sabbaths God? murder those who were murder'd because of him? turn away the law from the woman taken in adultery? steal the labor of others to support him? bear false witness when he omitted making a defense before Pilate? covet when he pray'd for his disciples, and when he bid them shake off the dust of their feet against such as refused to lodge them? I tell you, no virtue can exist without breaking these ten commandments; Jesus was all virtue, and acted from impulse, not from rules.William Blake
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But when he has done this, let him not say that he knows better than his master, for he only holds a candle in sunshine.William Blake
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He who replies to words of doubtdoth put the light of knowledge out.William Blake
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Time is the mercy of Eternity without Time's swiftness/ Which is the swiftest of all things: all were eternal torment.William Blake
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May God us keep From Single vision and Newton's sleep.William Blake
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We live as One Man for contracting our infinite senses we behold multitude or expanding: we behold as one.William Blake
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How can a bird that is born for joy Sit in a cage and sing?William Blake
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Did he who made the lamb make thee?William Blake
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Man has no Body distinct from his soul; for that called Body is a portion of a Soul discerned by the five senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.William Blake
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When nations grow old the Arts grow cold And commerce settles on every treeWilliam Blake
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The following Discourse [on art, by Sir Joshua Reynolds] is particularly Interesting to Blockheads as it endeavours to prove that There is No such thing as Inspiration & that any Man of a plain Understanding may by Thieving from Others become a Mich Angelo.William Blake
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Thou art a man God is no more Thy own humanity Learn to adoreWilliam Blake
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My mother groaned, my father wept, into the dangerous world I leapt.William Blake
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Joys impregnate. Sorrows bring forth.William Blake
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Expect poison from the standing water.William Blake
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Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.William Blake
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IV Â The bounded is loathed by its possessor. The same dull round even of a universe would soon become a mill with complicated wheels. V Â If the many become the same as the few, when possess'd, More! More! is the cry of a mistaken soul, less than All cannot satisfy Man.VI Â If any could desire what he is incapable of possessing, despair must be his eternal lot. V I I Â The desire of Man being Infinite the possession is Infinite & himself Infinite. .William Blake
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I know of no other Christianity and of no other Gospel than the liberty both of body & mind to exercise the Divine Arts of ImaginationImagination the real & eternal World of which this Vegetable Universe is but a faint shadow & in which we shall live in our Eternal or Imaginative Bodies, when these Vegetable Mortal Bodies are no more. The Apostles knew of no other Gospel.William Blake
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When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friendWilliam Blake
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Answer this to yourselves, & expel from among you those who pretend to despise the labours of Art & Science, which alone are the labours of the Gospel: Is not this plain & manifest to the thought? Can you think at all, & not pronounce heartily! That to Labour in Knowledge. is to Build up Jerusalem: and to Despise Knowledge, is to Despise Jerusalem & her Builders. And remember: He who despises & mocks a Mental Gift in another; calling it pride & selfishness & sin; mocks Jesus the giver of every Mental Gift. which always appear to the ignorance-loving Hypocrite, as Sins. but that which is a Sin in the sight of cruel Man. is not so in the sight of our kind God.William Blake
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Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.William Blake
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Active evil is better than passive goodWilliam Blake
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For I dance And drink and sing, Till some blind hand Shall brush my wing. If thought is life And strength and breath And the want Of thought is death Then am IA happy fly If I live Or if I dieWilliam Blake
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Ah Sun-flower! weary of time, Who countest the steps of the Sun:Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where the traveller's journey is done. Where the Youth pined away with desire, And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow: Arise from their graves and aspire, Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.William Blake
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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.William Blake
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The naked woman’s body is a portion of eternity too great for the eye of man.William Blake
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For Mercy has a human heart; Pity, a human face; And Love, the human form divine: And Peace the human dress. Songs of InnocenceCruelty has a human heart And jealousy a human face, Terror the human form divine, And secrecy the human dress. The human dress is forged iron, The human form a fiery forge, The human face a furnace seal'd, The human heart its hungry gorge. Songs of Experience - This poem was discovered posthumously. .William Blake
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I went to the Garden of Love, And saw what I never had seen: A Chapel was built in the midst, Where I used to play on the green. And the gates of this Chapel were shut, And 'Thou shalt not' writ over the door; So I turn'd to the Garden of Love, That so many sweet flowers bore. And I saw it was filled with graves, And tomb-stones where flowers should be: And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds, And binding with briars, my joys & de .William Blake
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A robin redbreast in a cage Puts all heaven in a rage. A dove-house fill'd with doves and pigeons Shudders hell thro' all its regions. A dog starv'd at his master's gate Predicts the ruin of the state. A horse misused upon the road Calls to heaven for human blood. Each outcry of the hunted hare A fibre from the brain does tear. A skylark wounded in the wing, A cherubim does cease to sing. The game-cock clipt and arm'd for fight Does the rising sun affright. Every wolf's and lion's howl Raises from hell a human soul.- "Auguries of Innocence .William Blake
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He who mocks the infant's faith Shall be mock'd in age and death. He who shall teach the child to doubt The rotting grave shall ne'er get out. He who respects the infant's faith Triumphs over hell and death. The child's toys and the old man's reasons Are the fruits of the two seasons.- "Auguries of InnocenceWilliam Blake
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It is right it should be so; Man was made for joy and woe; And when this we rightly know, Thro' the world we safely go. Joy and woe are woven fine, A clothing for the soul divine. Under every grief and pine Runs a joy with silken twine.- "Auguries of InnocenceWilliam Blake
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The emmet's inch and eagle's mile Make lame philosophy to smile. He who doubts from what he sees Will ne'er believe, do what you please.- "Auguries of InnocenceWilliam Blake
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There is a Moment in each Day that Satan cannot findWilliam Blake
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Energy is the only life and is from the Body and Reason is the bound or outward circumference of Energy.William Blake
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Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night.William Blake
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The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it.William Blake
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You 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 Blake
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The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.William Blake
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Oh! why was I born with a different face? why was I not born like the rest of my race? when I look, each one starts! when I speak, I offend; then Im silent & passive & lose every friend. Then my verse I dishonour, my pictures despise, my person degrade & my temper chastise; and the pen is my terror, the pencil my shame; all my talents I bury, and dead is my fame. Im either too low or too highly prized; when elate I m envy'd, when meek Im despis'd .William Blake
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The stars are threshed, and the souls are threshed from their husks.William Blake
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If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.William Blake
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If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is: Infinite.William Blake
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The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.William Blake
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Vision is the end of religion.William Blake
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The ancient tradition that the world will be consumed in fire at the end of six thousand years is true, as I have heard from Hell.For the cherub with his flaming sword is hereby commanded to leave his guard at tree of life, and when he does, the whole creation will be consumed, and appear infinite, and holy whereas it now appears finite & corrupt.William Blake
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I was walking among the fires of Hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius; which to Angels look like torment and insanity.William Blake
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It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.William Blake
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Imitation is criticism.William Blake
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In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between them, there are doors.William Blake
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Dip him in the river who loves water.William Blake
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The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity, too great for the eye of man.William Blake
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What is Above is Within ... the Circumference is Winthin, Without is formed the Selfish Center, and the Circumference still expands going forward to Eternity.William Blake
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Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.William Blake
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It is right it should be so Man was made for joy and woe And when this we rightly know Through the world we safely go.William Blake
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He who desires but acts not breeds pestilence.William Blake
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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.William Blake
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A robin redbreast in a cage Sets all heaven in a rage.William Blake
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Some are born to sweet delight Some are born to endless night.William Blake
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The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water and breeds reptiles of the mind.William Blake
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I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's. I will not reason and compare My business is to create.William Blake
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The cut worm forgives the plow.William Blake
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The bird a nest the spider a web man friendship.William Blake
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Improvement makes straight roads but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius.William Blake
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He who desires but acts not breeds pestilence.William Blake
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General good is the plea of the scoundrel hypocite flatterer.William Blake
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Mirth is better than fun and happiness is better than mirth.William Blake
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Life delights in life.William Blake