53 William Blake Quotes (About Love, Imagination, Wisdom…)

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Both his paintings and writings was not recognized during his lifetime and struggled close to poverty for much of his life.

However, Blake is now considered an essential figure in the history of poetry and visual arts. His visual artistry led Jonathan Jones (British art critic) to regard him as “the greatest artist Britain has ever produced.”

Blake poured his whole being into his works. Unlike most painters, Blake worked on a small scale, and most of his engravings and paintings are only inches in height, yet the detailed rendering is exquisitely superb.

Blake’s works earned far more public acclaim after his death and are now hugely admired by artists and critics alike. Listed below are the top 56 William Blake quotes and sayings that explore his views about love, imagination, wisdom, and many more.

William Blake Quotes About Love

1. “Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome. Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth.”

2. “Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.”

3. “Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”

4. “If a thing loves, it is infinite.” 

If a thing loves, it is infinite - William Blake. #quotes #love #infinite

5. “Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”

6. “I am in you and you in me, mutual in divine love.”

7. “Love seeketh not itself to please, nor for itself hath any care, but for another gives its ease, and builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.”

8. “Where mercy, love, and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too.”

Related: Inspirational God Quotes about Love and Life

William Blake Quotes About Imagination

1. “What is now proved was once only imagined.”

2. “The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”

3. “If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”

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

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

6. “The man who never in his mind and thoughts traveled to heaven is no artist.”

7. “Travelers repose and dream among my leaves.”

8. “One thought fills immensity.” 

One thought fills immensity - William Blake. #quotes #imagination #thought #immensity

9. “The soul of sweet delight, can never be defiled.”

10. “The eye altering alters all.”

William Blake Quotes About Wisdom

1. “The man who never alters his opinions is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”

2. “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”

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

4. “The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.”

5. “In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.”

6. “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.”

7. “To generalize is to be an idiot.” 

To generalize is to be an idiot - William Blake. #quotes #wisdom #generalize #idiot

8. “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.”

9. “A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.”

10. “The true method of knowledge is an experiment.”

William Blake Quotes About Friendship

1. “Opposition is true friendship.”

2. “The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.”

3. “No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.”

4. “It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.” 

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend - William Blake. #quotes #friendship #forgive #enemy #friend

5. “I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.”

William Blake Quotes About Death

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

2. “Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.”

3. “Better murder an infant in its cradle than nurse an unacted desire.”

4. “Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death.” 

Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death - William Blake. #quotes #death #art #tree #life

William Blake, More Quotes And Sayings

1. “Exuberance is beauty.”

2. “For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life.”

3. “He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.”

4. “Do what you will, this world’s a fiction and is made up of contradiction.”

5. “If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt, they’d immediately go out.”

6. “He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy, But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity’s sunrise.”

7. “Lives in eternity’s sunrise.”

8. “A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.” 

A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent - William Blake. #quotes #truth #bad #intent

9. “It is not because angels are holier than men or devils that makes them angels, but because they do not expect holiness from one another, but from God only.”

10. “Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.”

11. “Christ’s crucifix shall be made an excuse for executing criminals.”

12. “I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.”

13. “Man has no Body distinct from his Soul; for that called Body is a portion of Soul discerned by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.”

14. “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.”

15. “Energy is an eternal delight, and he who desires, but acts not breeds pestilence.”

16. “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!”

If you’d like to know more about the artistry and writings of William Blake, we would suggest you read William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books.

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