“Proverbs of Hell” [in Full] by William Blake [w/ Audio]

I

II

III

In seed-time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.

Drive your cart and your plough 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 plough.

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 measured 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 cloak.

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 imagined.

The rat, the mouse, the fox, the rabbit watch the roots;
the lion, the tiger, 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.

Everything possible to be believed 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 suffered you to impose on him knows you.

As the plough follows words, so God rewards prayers.

The tigers 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 have been so.

The soul of sweet delight can never be defiled.

When thou seest an eagle, thou seest a portion
of Genius. Lift up thy head!

As the caterpillar 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 plough 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 wished everything was black,
the owl that everything was white.

Exuberance is Beauty.

If the lion was advised by the fox,
he would be cunning.

Improvement makes straight 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 to be believed.

Enough! or Too much.

* * *
The ancient poets animated all sensible
objects with Gods and Geniuses, calling
them by the names and adorning them with
properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes,
cities, nations, and whatever their enlarged
and numerous senses could perceive.

And particularly they studied the Genius of each
city and country, placing it under its mental deity.

Till a system was formed, which some took
advantage of and enslaved 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 at length they pronounced that the Gods
had ordered such things.

Thus men forgot that all deities reside
in the human breast.

“Proverbs of Hell” [2 of 3] by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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 imagined.

The rat, the mouse, the fox, the rabbit watch the roots;
the lion, the tiger, 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.

Everything possible to be believed 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 suffered you to impose on him knows you.

As the plough follows words, so God rewards prayers.

The tigers 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.

“Proverbs of Hell” [1 of 3] by William Blake [w/ Audio]

In seed-time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.

Drive your cart and your plough 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 plough.

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 measured 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 cloak.

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.

Five Wise Lines (August 2024)

Empires arise from chaos, and empires collapse back into chaos. This we have known since time began.

The romance of the three kingdoms by luo guanzhong

Being poor is a mere trifle. It is being known to be poor that is the sting.

Jerome k. jerome; “On being hard up”

The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him…

Sun tzu; The art of war

It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.

Jerome k. Jerome; “On being idle”

The wise man, like a child, can be filled with wonder at anything.

Tibetan proverb

Five Wise Lines [June 2024]

The man who says to me, “Believe as I do, or God will damn thee,” will presently say, “Believe as I do, or I shall assassinate thee.”

Voltaire, in On superstition

The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

Marcel proust

The translation of a poem having any depth ends by being one of two things: Either it is the expression of the translator, virtually a new poem, or it is as it were a photograph, as exact as possible, of one side of the statue.

Ezra pound

The people are of supreme importance to the ruler,
food is of supreme importance to the people.

Chinese adage

All translators face two choices: leave the reader in peace and drag the author closer, or leave the author in peace and drag the reader closer.

Friedrich schleiermacher (1768-1834)
[Referenced in Twenty-Nine GOODBYES, ed. by timothy billings]

Five Wise Lines [May 2024]

Play is a state of mind, rather than an activity.

Stuart brown in PLay: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and Invigorates the soul

My sins are running out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I come to judge the sins of another!

From Sayings of the Desert Fathers
(A Senior Monk’s reply upon being asked to Judge a younger monk’s actions)

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth! But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Matthew 5: 38&39

I have no scepter, but I have a pen.

Voltaire to Fredrick the great

If a man is born to error, let us wish him virtuous errors.

Voltaire; ON Superstition

Five Wise Lines [April 2024]

Diogenes Sitting in His Tub by Jean-Leon Gerome (1860)

Of what use for us is a man who, although he has long practiced philosophy, has never upset anyone?

Diogenes of sinope on Plato, according to themistius

The superstition that we must drive from the Earth is that which, making a tyrant of God, invites men to become tyrants.

Voltaire in On Superstition

The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality.

T.S. Eliot in Tradition and the Individual talent

What’s the difference between a king and a poor man if they would both end the same bundle of white bones.

Zhuangzi

The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.

Carl sagan (Note: There are variations on this quote that long predate Sagan’s)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

You live off the crumbs that fall from the festive table of my genius.

Kurban Said in Ali and Nino [Not so much wisdom as a wicked burn]

To roam Giddily and be everywhere, but at home, Such freedom doth a banishment become.

John donne in a Poetic letter to rowland woodward

Lions are not the slaves of those who feed them, it is the feeders, rather, who are the lion’s slaves. For fear is the mark of a slave, and wild beasts make men fearful.

Diogenes the cynic

Five Wise Lines (March 2024)

We are pattern seekers, believers in a coherent world, in which regularities appear not by accident but as a result of mechanical causality or someone’s intention.

Daniel kahneman; Thinking, Fast and slow

If you win, do not boast of your victory; if you lose, do not be discouraged. When it is safe, do not become careless; when it is dangerous, do not fear. Simply continue down the path ahead.

Kanō Jigorō; Founder of Jūdō

A writer makes new life in the void, knocks on silence to make a sound, binds space and time on a sheet of silk and pours out a river from an inch-sized heart.

Lu Ji; Wen Fu (261 – 303)

The worst kind of Virtue never stops striving for Virtue, and so never achieves Virtue.

Laozi

Moonlight floods the whole sky from horizon to horizon. // How much it can fill your room depends on its windows.

Rumi

Five Wise Lines from Leaves of Grass

Why, who makes much of a miracle? As to me I know of nothing else but miracles.

Walt Whitman, “miracles”

The American contempt for statues and ceremonies, the boundless impatience for restraint…

Walt whitman, “Song of the Broad-axe”

I exist as I am, that is enough. If no other in the world would be aware I sit content. And if each and all be aware I sit content.

walt whitman, “Song of myself”

I am not the poet of goodness only, I do not decline to be the poet of wickedness also.

walt whitman, “song of myself”

If any thing is sacred the human body is sacred.

Walt whitman, “i sing the body electric”

NOTES: Numerous editions exist between the 1855 and 1892 (deathbed) edition. It’s available for free on Project Gutenberg at: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1322

Four Aphorisms

1.) If you spend more time each day faultfinding than feeling grateful, your philosophy is fucked.

2.) Drop useless ideas as one would drop a flaming marshmallow. 

3.) If you shop recreationally, consider square dancing or kung fu.

4.) No idea should be beyond critique, but you don't have to be an ass about it.