Quotes from The Complete Illuminated Books

William Blake ·  480 pages

Rating: (2.8K votes)


“none can desire what he has not perceiv'd.”
― William Blake, quote from The Complete Illuminated Books


“He who sees the Infinite in all things sees God. He who sees the Ratio only sees himself only.”
― William Blake, quote from The Complete Illuminated Books


“Man's desires are limited by his perceptions; none can desire what he has not perceiv'd.”
― William Blake, quote from The Complete Illuminated Books


“And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?”
― William Blake, quote from The Complete Illuminated Books


“He who sees the Infinite in all things sees God. He who sees the Ratio only sees himself only. Therefore God becomes as we are, that we may be as he is.”
― William Blake, quote from The Complete Illuminated Books



“VI. If any could desire what he is incapable of possessing, despair must be his eternal lot.”
― William Blake, quote from The Complete Illuminated Books


About the author

William Blake
Born place: in Golden Square, London, England, The United Kingdom
Born date November 28, 1757
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“There wasn't a single thing in there that reminded me of my existence.”
― Richard Brautigan, quote from So the Wind Won't Blow it All Away


“I'm going to kiss you now,' I whispered. Rhode lifted his eyes to mine. 'I was hoping you would say that,' he whispered back, and we both cracked a smile. 'Lenah,' he said, and I could feel his body heat humming off him. 'What will I do without you?'
I shivered as one word travelled through me.
'Live.”
― Rebecca Maizel, quote from Stolen Nights


“Adah could not stop thinking about her discovery that the whites were just as fallible as everyone else. There were bad whites and good whites, just as there were bad blacks and good blacks! Why then did they claim to be superior?”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from Second Class Citizen


“it was like glass sandpaper being rubbed on my skin.”
― Nicci French, quote from Secret Smile


“How many people live in the moment? A few? How many people live for tomorrow at the sacrifice of today?" Dreyfus opened his fist to reveal it to be empty. "...When tomorrow is never a guarantee.”
― Richard Doetsch, quote from The 13th Hour


Interesting books

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
(87.9K)
Eats, Shoots & Leave...
by Lynne Truss
Breaking Dawn
(1.1M)
Breaking Dawn
by Stephenie Meyer
Out of Africa
(26.7K)
Out of Africa
by Isak Dinesen
Haunted
(75.7K)
Haunted
by Chuck Palahniuk
Portnoy's Complaint
(45.1K)
Portnoy's Complaint
by Philip Roth
Darkness at Noon
(20.8K)
Darkness at Noon
by Arthur Koestler

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.