Thou art a man God is no more Thy own humanity Learn to adore
William BlakeRead
Commerce is so far from being beneficial to arts, or to empire, that it is destructive of both, as all their history shows, for the above reason of individual merit being its great hatred. Empires flourish till they become commercial, and then they are scattered abroad to the four winds.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that commerce can harm both the arts and the stability of empires by prioritizing individual profit over collective merit.
William Blake's quote critiques the negative impact of commerce on the cultural arts and the cohesion of empires. He argues that while empires may thrive initially, the onset of commercialism leads to their eventual decline, as the pursuit of individual gain undermines the values that bind societies and cultivate artistic expression. This highlights the tension between economic interests and the greater good of culture and community.
Themes
CommerceArtsEmpireIndividual MeritDecline
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the role of commerce in society, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of preserving cultural values.
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
Wherever anything lives, there is, open somewhere, a register in which time is being inscribed.
Henri BergsonRead
Tis so much to be a king, that he only is so by being so.
Michel De MontaigneRead
...the case for individual freedom rests largely on the recognition of the inevitable and universal ignorance of all of us concerning a great many of the factors on which the achievements of our ends and welfare depend.
Friedrich August Von HayekRead
Arguments are to be avoided: they are always vulgar and often convincing.
Oscar WildeRead
Totally without hope, one cannot live. To live without hope is to cease to live.
Jrgen MoltmannRead
There is no extrahistorical or eternalist or abstractivistically pure standpoint where we can get oriented in the absolute Truth per se before dealing with the concrete lineaments of how we happen exist in this time and place. We are participants in a dynamic system and we know its profile only by its action in organizing how we interact together and how we see our own selves. "The truth is the whole," and the whole is a system of living energy: our life as human and historical spirits.
Kenny SmithRead