Acts themselves alone are history, and these are neither the exclusive property of Hume, Gibbon nor Voltaire, Echard, Rapin, Plutarch, nor Herodotus. Tell me the Acts, O historian, and leave me to reason upon them as I please; away with your reasoning and your rubbish. All that is not action is not worth reading.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Blake values raw action over historians' interpretations of it.
- In plain terms
- Only real actions matter, not what historians say.
- What can you take from it?
- Focus on actions rather than interpretations.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Who owns history?
- How do you read the past?
Another view
Context helps understand actions.
More from William Blake
Fiery the Angels rose, and as they rose deep thunder roll'd Around their shores: indignant burning with the fires of Orc.
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