Thou art a man God is no more Thy own humanity Learn to adore
William BlakeRead
In your own bosom you bear your heaven and earth, _x000D_ And all you behold, though it appears without, _x000D_ It is within, in your imagination, _x000D_ Of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our perceptions and reality are shaped by our inner thoughts and imagination.
William Blake's quote emphasizes that the true essence of our experience and reality is constructed within our own minds. He argues that what we perceive in the external world is a mere reflection of our internal beliefs and imaginations, suggesting that our true 'heaven and earth' reside within us, influencing how we view and interact with the world around us.
Themes
ImaginationPerceptionRealityInner WorldPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about self-awareness and mental health.
More from William Blake
All quotes →In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
William BlakeRead
O thou who passest through our valleys in Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat That flames from their large nostrils! Thou, O Summer, Oft pitchest here thy golden tent, and oft Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld With joy thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair.
William BlakeRead
Every Night and every Morn Some to Misery are born. Every Morn and every Night Some are born to Sweet Delight, Some are born to Endless Night.
William BlakeRead
As the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys.
William BlakeRead
He who would do good to another must do it in minute particulars.
William BlakeRead
Similar quotes
Not even old age knows how to love death.
SophoclesRead
It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of Philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, it has set up that single, unconscionable freedom -- free trade. In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation.
Karl MarxRead
Although a man may wear fine clothing, if he lives peacefully; and is good, self-possessed, has faith and is pure; and if he does not hurt any living being, he is a holy man.
Denis DiderotRead
When men speak ill of thee, live so that nobody will believe them.
PlatoRead
Coercion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom captivates him.
Robert McnamaraRead
There is enough for everyone. People think that there isn't enough, so they get as much as they can, so many people don't have enough.
R. Buckminster FullerRead