“Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius.”
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 66
Quotes from book
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is a book by the English poet and printmaker William Blake. It is a series of texts written in imitation of biblical prophecy but expressing Blake's own intensely personal Romantic and revolutionary beliefs. Like his other books, it was published as printed sheets from etched plates containing prose, poetry and illustrations. The plates were then coloured by Blake and his wife Catherine.
“Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.”
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 41
The Voice of the Devil
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793)
“The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”
A Memorable Fancy
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793)
Source: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
“thus men forgot that all deities reside in the human breast.”
Source: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 71
Context: The ancient poets animated all objects with Gods or Geniuses, calling them by the names and adorning them with the properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, nations, and whatever their enlarged & numerous senses could perceive. And particularly they studied the genius of each city & country, placing it under its mental deity; Till a system was formed, which some took advantage of, & enslav'd the vulgar by attempting to realize or abstract the mental deities from their objects: thus began priesthood; Choosing forms of worship from poetic tales. And at length they pronounc'd that the Gods had order'd such things. Thus men forgot that all deities reside in the human breast.
Variant: Exuberance is Beauty.
Source: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 64
“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 46
“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”
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
“Prisons are built with stones of law; brothels with bricks of religion.”
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 21
“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 3
