Quote #157

It is not at all certain that a merely moral criticism of society may not be just as 'revolutionary' - and revolution, after all, means turning things upside down - as the politico-economic criticism which is fashionable at this moment. Blake was not a politician, but there is more understanding of the nature of capitalist society in a poem like 'I wander through each charter'd street' than in three-quarters of Socialist literature.

More from William Blake

  1. When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.
  2. The iron hand crush'd the Tyrant's head And became a Tyrant in his stead.
  3. My Brother starv'd between two Walls, His Children's Cry my Soul appalls;
  4. 'I die, I die!' the Mother said, 'My children die for lack of Bread.'
  5. I am sure this Jesus will not do Either for Englishman or Jew.
  6. This life's dim windows of the soul Distorts the heavens from pole to pole And leads you to believe a lie When you see with, not through, t…
  7. Both read the Bible day and night, But thou read'st black where I read white.
  8. The vision of Christ that thou dost see Is my vision's greatest enemy.

All William Blake quotes