William Blake citations

“Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night.”

“The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself.”

“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.”

“He who kisses joy as it flies by will live in eternity's sunrise.”

“A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.”

“The moon like a flower
In heaven's high bower,
With silent delight,
Sits and smiles on the night.”

“Rouze up, O Young Men of the New Age! set your foreheads against the ignorant Hirelings! For we have Hirelings in the Camp, the Court & the University, who would, if they could, for ever depress Mental & prolong Corporeal War.”

“Those who control their passions do so because their passions are weak enough to be controlled.”

“Opposition is true Friendship.”

“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?”

“There is a smile of love,
And there is a smile of deceit,
And there is a smile of smiles
In which these two smiles meet.”

“Cruelty has a human heart,
And Jealousy a human face;
Terror the human form divine,
And Secrecy the human dress.”

“A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.”

“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
in the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”

“Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained; and the restrainer or reason usurps its place & governs the unwilling.”

“What is now proved was once only imagined.”

“Thy heaven doors are my hell gates.”

“Mirth is better than Fun & Happiness is better than Mirth.”

“The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”

“I was walking among the fires of Hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius; which to Angels look like torment and insanity.”

“And throughout all eternity
I forgive you, you forgive me.”

“Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius.”

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet;
This is not done by jostling in the street.”

“Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.”

“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.”

“When I tell any Truth it is not for the sake of Convincing those who do not know it but for the sake of defending those who Do”

“The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.”

“How can a bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?”

“Knowledge is Life with wings”