Top 400 William Blake Quotes (2025 Update)
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151. “What is it men in women do require: The lineaments of gratified desire. What is it women do in men require: The lineaments of gratified desire.”

— William Blake

152. “What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price of all the man hath, his house, his wife, his children.”

— William Blake

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

— William Blake

154. “Kill not the moth nor butterfly, For the Last Judgement draweth nigh.”

— William Blake

155. “He who makes his law a curse, by his own law shall surely die.”

— William Blake

156. “The hours of folly are measured by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure.”

— William Blake

157. “I thought Love lived in the hot sunshine, But O, he lives in the moony light! I thought to find Love in the heat of day, But sweet Love is the comforter of night.”

— William Blake

158. “The foundation of empire is art and science. Remove them or degrade them, and the empire is no more. Empire follows art and not vice versa as Englishmen suppose.”

— William Blake

159. “As a man is, so he sees. As the eye is formed, such are its powers.”

— William Blake

160. “The Sick Rose O Rose, thou art sick. The invisible worm That flies in the night In the howling storm Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy, And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy.”

— William Blake

161. “Energy is the only life, and is from the body; and reason is the bound or outward circumference of energy. Energy is eternal delight.”

— William Blake

162. “O God, protect me from my friends, that they have not power over me. Thou hast giv’n me power to protect myself from thy bitterest enemies.”

— William Blake

163. “Dip him in the river who loves water.”

— William Blake

164. “We are not meant to resolve all contradictions but to live with them and rise above them.”

— William Blake

165. “The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true poet and of the Devil’s party without knowing it.”

— William Blake

166. “When the sun rises, do you not see a round disc of fire somewhat like a guinea? O no, no, I see an innumerable company of the heavenly host crying Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.”

— William Blake

167. “Can I see another’s woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another’s grief, and not seek for kind relief?”

— William Blake

168. “I have no name: I am but two days old. What shall I call thee? I happy am, Joy is my name. Sweet joy befall thee!”

— William Blake

169. “The cistern contains: The fountain overflows.”

— William Blake

170. “I am under the direction of messengers from Heaven daily and nightly.”

— William Blake

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

— William Blake

172. “All the destruction in Christian Europe has arisen from deism, which is natural religion.”

— William Blake

173. “Enthusiastic Admiration is the first Principle of Knowledge and its last.”

— William Blake

174. “Better to shun the bait than struggle in the snare.”

— William Blake

175. “The vision of Christ that thou dost see Is my vision’s greatest enemy.”

— William Blake

176. “But when he has done this, let him not say that he knows better than his master, for he only holds a candle in sunshine.”

— William Blake

177. “Every object that is loved forms the center of a paradise.”

— William Blake

178. “How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way, Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?”

— William Blake

179. “To be an Error and to be Cast out is a part of God’s Design.”

— William Blake

180. “Listen to the fool’s reproach! It is a kingly title!”

— William Blake

181. “Pay attention to minute particulars. Take care of the little ones. Generalization and abstraction are the plea of the hypocrite, scoundrel, and knave.”

— William Blake

182. “May God us keep From Single vision and Newton’s sleep.”

— William Blake

183. “The busy bee has no time for sorrow. The hours of folly are measur’d by the clock, but of wisdom: no.”

— William Blake

184. “For everything exists and not one sigh nor smile nor tear, one hair nor particle of dust, not one can pass away.”

— William Blake

185. “The worship of God is, Honouring his gifts in other men each according to his genius, and loving the greatest men best; those who envy or calumniate great men hate God, for there is no other God.”

— William Blake

186. “The atoms of Democritus And Newton’s particles of light Are sands upon the Red Sea shore, Where Israel’s tents do shine so bright.”

— William Blake

187. “One law for lion and ox is oppression.”

— William Blake

188. “As the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys.”

— William Blake

189. “Shame is pride’s cloak.”

— William Blake

190. “More! More! is the cry of a mistaken soul.”

— William Blake

191. “If you trap the moment before it’s ripe, The tears of repentence you’ll certainly wipe; But if once you let the ripe moment go You can never wipe off the tears of woe.”

— William Blake

192. “The most sublime act is to set another before you.”

— William Blake

193. “A good local pub has much in common with a church, except that a pub is warmer, and there’s more conversation.”

— William Blake

194. “Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow.”

— William Blake

195. “When thou seest an eagle, thou seest a portion of genius; lift up thy head!”

— William Blake

196. “Since all the riches of this world May be gifts from the Devil and earthly kings, I should suspect that I worshipp’d the Devil If I thank’d my God for worldly things.”

— William Blake

197. “Thy friendship oft has made my heart to ache: do be my enemy for friendship’s sake.”

— William Blake

198. “Prepare your hearts for Death’s cold hand! prepare Your souls for flight, your bodies for the earth; Prepare your arms for glorious victory; Prepare your eyes to meet a holy God! Prepare, prepare!”

— William Blake

199. “The Old and New Testaments are the Great Code of Art.”

— William Blake

200. “He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars: general Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars.”

— William Blake