William Blake I have been delighted and overawed by since I was 18 and had him thrust upon me at University - having, I think, been shielded from this all at school. He was the artist pure, a revolutionary, outspoken, a writer, a painter and etcher - above is his Creation of Eve. These lines below are from the Marriage of Heaven and Hell - the Proverbs of Hell.
Be calm my child, remember that you must do all the good you can the present day
In seed-time learn, in harvest teach,
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| A book he illustrated with Mary Wollstonecraft |
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in winter enjoy.
Drive your cart and your plough
over the bones of the dead.
The road of excess leads to the
palace of wisdom.
Prudence is a rich ugly old maid
courted by Incapacity.
He who desires, but acts not, breeds
pestilence.
The cut worm forgives the plough.
Dip him in the river who loves
water.
A fool sees not the same tree that a
wise man sees.
He whose face gives no light shall
never become a star.
Eternity is in love with the productions
of time.
The busy bee has no time for sorrow.
The hours of folly are measured by
the clock, but of wisdom no clock can
measure.
All wholesome food is caught without
a net or a trap.
Bring out number, weight, and
measure in a year of dearth.
No bird soars too high if he soars
with his own wings.
A dead body revenges not injuries.
The most sublime act is to set another
before you.
If the fool would persist in his folly
he would become wise.
Folly is the cloak of knavery.
Shame is Pride's cloak.
Prisons are built with stones of law,
brothels with bricks of religion.
The pride of the peacock is the
glory of God.
The lust of the goat is the bounty
of God.
The wrath of the lion is the wisdom
of God.
The nakedness of woman is the
work of God.
Excess of sorrow laughs, excess of
joy weeps.
The roaring of lions, the howling of
wolves, the raging of the stormy sea,
and the destructive sword, are portions
of Eternity too great for the eye
of man.
The fox condemns the trap, not
himself.
Joys impregnate, sorrows bring
forth.
Let man wear the fell of the lion,
woman the fleece of the sheep.
The bird a nest, the spider a web,
man friendship.
The selfish smiling fool and the
sullen frowning fool shall be both
thought wise that they may be a rod.
What is now proved was once only
imagined.
The rat, the mouse, the fox, the
rabbit watch the roots; the Hon, the
tiger, the horse, the elephant watch
the fruits.
The cistern contains, the fountain
overflows.
One thought fills immensity.
Always be ready to speak your
mind, and a base man will avoid you.
Everything possible to be believed
is an image of truth.
The eagle never lost so much time
as when he submitted to learn of the
crow.
The fox provides for himself, but
God provides for the lion.
Think in the morning, act in the
noon, eat in the evening, sleep in the
night.
He who has suffered you to impose
on him knows you.
As the plough follows words, so
God rewards prayers.
The tigers of wrath are wiser than
the horses of instruction.
Expect poison from the standing
water.
You never know what is enough
unless you know what is more than
enough.
Listen to the fool's reproach; it is a
kingly title.
The eyes of fire, the nostrils of air,
the mouth of water, the beard of
earth.
The weak in courage is strong in
cunning.
The apple tree never asks the beech
how he shall grow, nor the lion the
horse how he shall take his prey.
The thankful receiver bears a plentiful
harvest.
If others had not been foolish we
should have been so.
The soul of sweet delight can never
be defiled.
When thou seest an eagle, thou
seest a portion of Genius. Lift up thy
head!
As the caterpillar chooses the fairest
leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest
lays his curse on the fairest joys.
To create a little flower is the labour
of ages.
Damn braces; bless relaxes.
The best wine is the oldest, the best
water the newest.
Prayers plough not; praises reap
not; joys laugh not; sorrows weep
not.
The head Sublime, the heart Pathos,
the genitals Beauty, the hands and
feet Proportion.
As the air to a bird, or the sea
to a fish, so is contempt to the contemptible.
The crow wished everything was
black; the owl that everything was
white.
Exuberance is Beauty.
If the lion was advised by the fox,
he would be cunning.
Improvement makes straight roads,
but the crooked roads without Improvement
are roads of Genius.
Sooner murder an infant in its
cradle than nurse unacted desires.
Where man is not, nature is barren.
Truth can never be told so as to be
understood and not to be believed.
Enough! or Too much.
[You should google Mary Wollstonecraft btw - married to William Godwin, father of the Anarchist movement, she wrote amongst other things the book "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" which is the foundation of feminist literature. Her daughter Mary, was married to the the poet Shelly, and wrote the novel Frankenstein. Something of a family.]
