“Love seeketh not itself to please,
William Blake
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a heaven in hell’s despair”
Songs of Experience (Primary source)
William Blake’s Songs of Experience, published in 1794 as a companion to Songs of Innocence, presents a stark and often unsettling exploration of the complexities, contradictions, and hardships of adult life. Through poems such as The Tyger, London, and The Sick Rose, Blake confronts themes of oppression, suffering, and the loss of innocence, revealing the darker realities of human existence and societal injustice.
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“Think in the morning, act in the noon, eat in the evening, sleep in the night.”
— William Blake Primary source“It is easier to forgive an Enemy than to forgive a Friend.”
— William Blake Primary source“The true method of knowledge is experiment.”
— William Blake Primary sourceTo 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.
More quotes by William Blake →
“Where there’s marriage without love, there will be love without marriage.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Would you live with ease, do what you ought, and not what you please.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Love the day.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source