William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist
No. 1, He Who Binds
1790s, Poems from Blake's Notebook (c. 1791-1792), Several Questions Answered
“He who kisses joy as it flies by will live in eternity's sunrise.”
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William Blake249
English Romantic poet and artist 1757–1827Related quotes
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page 438 <br class="br">Last lines of the documentary film series " The National Parks: America's Best Idea http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/" by Ken Burns. <br class="br">John of the Mountains, 1938
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“He has not lived in vain
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“What matters an eternity of damnation to someone who has found in one second the infinity of joy?”
Charles Baudelaire book Le Spleen de Paris
Mais qu'importe l'éternité de la damnation à qui a trouvé dans une seconde l'infini de la jouissance? <br class="br">IX: "Le Mauvais Vitrier" http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Petits_Po%C3%A8mes_en_prose_-_IX._Le_Mauvais_Vitrier <br class="br">Le Spleen de Paris (1862)
“Joy is deeper than sorrow, for all joy seeks eternity.”
Julie Taymor (1952) American film and theatre director
Academy of Achievement interview (2006)
Context: In our culture, we think that happy and color is trivial, that black and darkness is deeper. But Nietzsche said — which is a line that I firmly believe — "Joy is deeper than sorrow, for all joy seeks eternity." And if you see Grendel, you'll see, as he's on the edge of the abyss, ready to leap to his death, he sings, "Is it joy I feel? Is it joy I feel?" And it's so, so moving. You can have a lot of different explanations for the ending of that opera, but there is something so palpable that you will feel when he sings those lines.
Eknath Easwaran (1910–1999) spiritual teacher, author of books on meditation and spiritual practice, and translator and interpreter of …
Context: To enjoy anything, we cannot be attached to it. William Blake understood this beautifully: 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. What we usually try to do is capture any joy that comes our way before it can escape. We have our butterfly net and go after the joy like a hunter stalking his prey. We hide and wait, pounce on it, catch it, and take it home to put on our wall. When our friends come to visit, we say, "Hey, Stu, would you like to see my joy?" There it is on the wall - dead. We try to cling to pleasure, but all we succeed in doing is making ourselves frustrated because, whatever it promises, pleasure simply cannot last. But if I am willing to kiss the joy as it flies, I say, 'Yes, this moment is beautiful. I won't grab it. I'll let it go.'
