William Blake

“Reason, or the ratio of all we have already known, is not the same that it shall be when we know more.”

“The true method of knowledge is experiment.”

“There can be no Good Will. Will is always Evil; it is persecution to others or selfishness.”

“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”

“Does the Eagle know what is in the pit? Or wilt thou go ask the Mole? Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod? Or Love in a golden bowl?”

“How sweet I roamed from field to field,And tasted all the summer's pride,Till I the prince of love beheld,Who in the sunny beams did glide!”

“He loves to sit and hear me sing,Then, laughing, sports and plays with me;Then stretches out my golden wing,And mocks my loss of liberty.”

“My silks and fine array,My smiles and languished air,By love are driv'n away;And mournful lean DespairBrings me yew to deck my grave:Such end true lovers have.”

“Like a fiend in a cloud,With howling woe,After night I do crowd,And with night will go;I turn my back to the east,From whence comforts have increased;For light doth seize my brainWith frantic pain.”

“How have you left the ancient loveThat bards of old enjoyed in you!The languid strings do scarcely move!The sound is forced, the notes are few!”

“True superstition is ignorant honesty & this is beloved of god and man.”

“Forgiveness of enemies can only come upon their repentance.”

“Active Evil is better than Passive Good.”

“They suppose that Woman's Love is Sin; in consequence all the Loves & Graces with them are Sin.”

“Piping down the valleys wild,Piping songs of pleasant glee,On a cloud I saw a child,And he laughing said to me:"Pipe a song about a Lamb."So I piped with merry cheer;"Piper, pipe that song again."So I piped; he wept to hear.”

“And I made a rural pen,And I stained the water clear,And I wrote my happy songsEvery child may joy to hear.”

“Sing louder aroundTo the bells' cheerful sound,While our sports shall be seenOn the ecchoing green.”

“Little Lamb, who made thee?Dost thou know who made thee?Gave thee life and bid thee feedBy the stream and o'er the mead;Gave thee clothing of delight,Softest clothing, woolly bright.”

“My mother bore me in the southern wild,And I am black, but O! my soul is white;White as an angel is the English child,But I am black as if bereaved of light.”

“And we are put on earth a little space,That we may learn to bear the beams of love,And these black bodies and this sunburnt faceIs but a cloud, and like a shady grove.”

“I'll shade him from the heat till he can bearTo lean in joy upon our Father's knee;And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,And be like him and he will then love me.”

“When my mother died I was very young,And my father sold me while yet my tongueCould scarcely cry 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!'weep!So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.”

“To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love All pray in their distress; And to these virtues of delight Return their thankfulness.For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is God, our father dear, And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is Man, his child and care.For Mercy has a human heart, Pity a human face, And Love, the human form divine, And Peace, the human dress.”

“Then every man, of every clime, That prays in his distress, Prays to the human form divine, Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace. And all must love the human form, In heathen, Turk, or Jew; Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell There God is dwelling too.”

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

“And there the lion's ruddy eyesShall flow with tears of gold,And pitying the tender cries,And walking round the fold,Saying: "Wrath by his meekness,And by his health, sickness,Is driven awayFrom our immortal day."”

“"For washed in life's river,My bright mane foreverShall shine like the goldAs Iguard o'er the fold."”

“When the voices of children are heard on the greenAnd laughing is heard on the hill,My heart is at rest within my breastAnd everything else is still.”

“Can I see another's woe,And not be in sorrow too?Can I see another's grief,And not seek for kind relief?”

“Nothing can be more contemptible than to suppose Public RECORDS to be True.”