William Blake (1757-1827):
Proverbs of Hell
- In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
- Drive your cart and your plow 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 plow.
- 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 measur'd 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 cloke.
- 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 imagin'd.
- The rat, the mouse, the fox, the rabbit watch the roots; the lion, the tyger, 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.
- Every thing possible to be believ'd 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 suffer'd you to impose on him, knows you.
- As the plow follows words, so God rewards prayers.
- The tygers 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 be so.
- The soul of sweet delight can never be defil'd.
- When thou seest an eagle, thou seest a portion of genius; lift up thy head!
- As the caterpiller 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 plow 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 wish'd every thing was black, the owl that every thing was white.
- Exuberance is Beauty.
- If the lion was advised by the fox, he would be cunning.
- Improvement makes strait 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 be believ'd.
- Enough! or too much.