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William Blake I see everything I paint in this world, but
everybody does not see alike. To the eyes of a miser a guinea is more beautiful
than the sun, and a bag worn with the use of money has more beautiful
proportions than a vine filled with grapes. The tree which moves some to tears
of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some
see nature all ridicule and deformity, and by these I shall not regulate my
proportions; and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of
imagination, nature is imagination itself. As a man is, so he sees. ..that I cannot live without doing my duty to lay up treasures in heaven is Certain & Determined, & to this I have long made up my mind, & why this should be made an objection to Me, while Drunkennness, Lewdness, Gluttony & even Idleness itself, does not hurt other men, let Satan himself Explain. The Thing I have most at Heart -more than life, or all that seems to make life comfortable without - Is the Interest of True Religion & Science, & whenever any thing appears to affect that Interest (Especially if I myself omit any duty to my Station as a Soldier of Christ), It gives me the greatest of torments. I am not ashamed, afraid, or averse to tell you what Ought to be Told: That I am under the direction of Messengers from Heaven, Daily & Nightly; but the nature of such things is not, as some suppose, without trouble or care. Temptations are on the right hand & left; behind, the sea of time & space roars & follows swiftly; he who keeps not right onward is lost, & if our footsteps slide in clay, how can we do otherwise than fear & tremble? Naked we came here, naked of Natural things,
& naked we shall return; but while clothd with the Divine Mercy, we are
richly clothd in Spiritual & suffer all the rest gladly. I have been very near the Gates of Death & have returned
very weak & an Old Man feeble & tottering, but not in Spirit & Life,
not in The Real Man. The Imagination which Liveth for Ever. In that, I am
stronger & stronger as this Foolish Body decays. Is it True or is it False that the Wisdom of this World is Foolishness with God? Self Evident Truth is one Thing and Truth the result of
Reasoning is another Thing. Rational Truth is not the Truth of Christ, but of
Pilate. It is the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil. As we cannot experience pleasure but by means of
others who experience either pleasure or pain thro us, And as all of us on earth
are united in thought, for it is impossible to think without images of somewhat
on earth - So it is impossible to know God or heavenly things without
conjunction with those who know God & heavenly things, therefore all who
converse in the spirit, converse with spirits. Understanding or Thought is not natural to Man;
it is acquired by means of Suffering & Distress, ie Experience. Will,
Desire, Love, Rage, Envy, & all other affections are Natural, but
Understanding is Acquired. But Observe: without these is to be less than man. The Man who pretends to be a modest enquirer into
the truth of a self evident thing is a Knave. The truth & certainty of
Virtue & Honesty, ie Inspiration, needs no one to prove it; it is Evident as
the Sun & Moon. He who stands doubting of what he intends, whether it is
Virtuous or Vicious, knows not what Virtue means. No man can do a Vicious action
& think it to be Virtuous. No man can take darkness for light. He may
pretend to do so & may pretend to be a modest Enquirer, but he is a Knave. Poetry is to excuse Vice & shew its reason & necessary
purgation. Having spent the Vigour of my Youth & Genius under the Opression of Sr Joshua & his Gang of Cunning Hired Knaves Without Employment & as much as could possibly be Without Bread, The Reader must Expect to Read in all my Remarks on these Books Nothing but Indignation & Resentment. While Sr Joshua was rolling in Riches, Barry was Poor & Unemployed except by his own Energy; Mortimer was calld a Madman, & only Portrait Painting applauded & rewarded by the Rich & Great. Reynolds & Gainsborough Blotted & Blurred one against the other & Divided all the English World between them. Fuseli, Indignant, almost hid himself. I am hid. I am happy I cannot say that Rafael Ever was,
from my Earliest Childhood, hidden from Me. I Saw & I Knew immediately the
difference between Rafael & Rubens. The Enquiry in England is not whether a Man has Talents & Genius, but whether he is Passive & Polite & a Virtuous Ass & obedient to Noblemen's Opinions in Art & Science. If he is, he is a Good Man; If Not, he must be Starved. The difference between a bad Artist & a Good One Is, the Bad Artist Seems to Copy a Great deal; The Good one Really Does Copy a Great deal. I read Burke's Treatise when very Young; at the
same time I read Locke on Human Understanding & Bacon's Advancement of
Learning; on Every one of these Books I wrote my Opinions, & on looking them
over find that my Notes on Reynolds in this Book are exactly Similar. I felt the
Same Contempt & Abhorrence then that I do now. They mock Inspiration &
Vision. Inspiration & Vision was then & now is & I hope will always
Remain my Element, my Eternal Dwelling place; how can I then hear it Contemnd
without returning Scorn for Scorn? Harmony [and] Proportion are Qualities & Not Things. The Harmony & Proportion of a Horse are not the same with those of a Bull. Every Thing has its own Harmony & Proportion, Two Inferior Qualities in it. For its Reality is Its Imaginative Form. Jesus supposes every Thing to be Evident to the Child & to the Poor & Unlearned. Such is the Gospel. God is not a Mathematical Diagram. One Power alone make a Poet - Imagination, The
Divine Vision. The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel dined with me, and I asked them
how they dared so roundly to assert that God spake to them and whether they did
not think at the time, that they would be misunderstood, & so be the cause
of imposition.
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Jonathan Swift The Stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes. Every man desires to live long, but no man desires to be old. We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.
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