“Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius.”
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 66
Quotes from bookThe 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.”
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 41
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
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.”
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
A Memorable Fancy
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793)
“Without contraries there is no progression.”
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Source: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
“For every thing that lives is Holy.”
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Source: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
“Dip him in the river who loves water.”
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Source: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
“The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.”
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Source: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
“thus men forgot that all deities reside in the human breast.”
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
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.
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
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.”
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 46
“Expect poison from the standing water.”
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Source: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
“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
“Prisons are built with stones of law; brothels with bricks of religion.”
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
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.”
William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 3
