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
wholsom food is caught without a net or a trap.
Bring out
number weight & 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 cloke of knavery.
Shame is
Prides 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, &
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 fools 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 reciever 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 catterpiller 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 & 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!
The ancient Poets animated all
sensible objects with Gods or Geniuses,
[calling
them by the names and adorning them with the properties of
[woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities,
nations, and whatever their [enlarged
& numerous senses could percieve.
And particularly they studied the
genius of each city & country, placing it [under
its mental deity.
Till a system was formed, which
some took advantage of & enslav'd the [vulgar
by attempting to realize or abstract the mental deities from their [objects; thus began Priesthood.
Choosing forms of worship from
poetic tales.
And a length they pronounc'd that
the Gods had order'd such things.
Thus men forgot that All deities
reside in the human breast.
William Blake
