William Blake: Quotes about love

The Book of Thel, Thel's Motto (1789–1792)
Context: 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?

Love , Wisdom

“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”

William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Variant: Eternity is in love with the productions of time.
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 10

Love , Time

“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.”

William Blake

The Clod and the Pebble, st. 3
1790s, Songs of Experience (1794)
Source: Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience

Love , Hell , Loss , Joy

“Without contraries there is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate are necessary to human existence.”

William Blake

The Argument
1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793)

Love , Hate

“And we are put on this earth a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love”

William Blake

Love , Learning

“Never seek to tell thy love
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind does move
Silently, invisibly.

I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart;
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears—
Ah, she doth depart.

Soon as she was gone from me
A traveler came by
Silently, invisibly—
Oh, was no deny.”

William Blake

Never Seek to Tell
1790s, Poems from Blake's Notebook (c. 1791-1792)

Love , Fear , Travel , Heart

“To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.”

William Blake Songs of Innocence and of Experience

The Divine Image, st. 1
1780s, Songs of Innocence (1789–1790)
Source: Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Love , Peace

“Dip him in the river who loves water.”

William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Source: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Love , Water

“The look of love alarms
Because 'tis filled with fire;
But the look of soft deceit
Shall win the lover's hire.”

William Blake

No. 2, The Look of Love
1790s, Poems from Blake's Notebook (c. 1791-1792), Several Questions Answered

Love , Lovers

“They suppose that Woman's Love is Sin; in consequence all the Loves & Graces with them are Sin.”

William Blake

1780s, Annotations to Lavater (1788)

Love

“I have labour'd hard indeed, & have been borne on angel's wings. Till we meet I beg of God our Saviour to be with you & me, & yours & mine. Pray give my & my wife's love to Mrs Butts & Family, & believe me to remain.”

William Blake

The Letters Of William Blake https://archive.org/details/lettersofwilliam002199mbp (1956), p. 90
1790s

Love , God , Family , Angels

“I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our Father's knee;
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him and he will then love me.”

William Blake The Little Black Boy

The Little Black Boy, st. 7
1780s, Songs of Innocence (1789–1790)

Love , Joy

“My silks and fine array,
My smiles and languished air,
By love are driv'n away;
And mournful lean Despair
Brings me yew to deck my grave:
Such end true lovers have.”

William Blake

Song (My Silks and Fine Arrays), st. 1
1780s, Poetical Sketches (1783)

Love , Smile , Lovers , Despair

“The Angel that presided o'er my birth
Said, "Little creature, formed of joy and mirth,
Go love without the help of any thing on earth."”

William Blake

The Angel That Presided
1800s, Poems from Blake's Notebook (c. 1807-1809)

Love , Angels , Birth , Help

“Then old Nobodaddy aloft
Farted and belched and coughed,
And said, "I love hanging and drawing and quartering
Every bit as well as war and slaughtering."”

William Blake

Let the Brothels of Paris, st. 2
1790s, Poems from Blake's Notebook (c. 1791-1792)

Love , War , Drawing

“How have you left the ancient love
That bards of old enjoyed in you!
The languid strings do scarcely move!
The sound is forced, the notes are few!”

William Blake To the Muses

To the Muses, st. 4
1780s, Poetical Sketches (1783)

Love