William Blake (1757-1827)

William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. What he called his "prophetic works" were said by the 20th-century critic Northrop Frye to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". While he lived in London his entire life, except for three years spent in Felpham, he produced a diverse and symbolically rich collection of works, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God", or "human existence itself".

Quotes

A truth that's told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent.
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.
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.
Those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.

Desire
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.
If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.
What is now proved was once only imagined.

Science
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.

Anger, Friendship
If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thru' narrow chinks of his cavern.

Miscellaneous
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.

Enemies, Forgiveness, Friendship
Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.