William Blake
William Blake
William Blakewas an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic works have been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". In...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth28 November 1757
I must Create a System, or be enslaved by another Man's; / I will not Reason and Compare; my business is to Create.
The Whole Business of Man is The Arts, & All Things Common.
Commerce is so far from being beneficial to arts, or to empire, that it is destructive of both, as all their history shows, for the above reason of individual merit being its great hatred. Empires flourish till they become commercial, and then they are scattered abroad to the four winds.
When nations grow old the Arts grow cold And commerce settles on every tree
I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.
If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
Energy is an eternal delight, and he who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence.
When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, And the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it.
To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love / All pray in their distress.
To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour.
To the eyes of a miser a guinea is far more beautiful than the sun, and a bag worn with the use of money has more beautiful proportions that a vine filled with grapes
What is now proved was only once imagined.
What is now proved was once only imagin'd
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.