“I assert for My self that I do not behold the Outward Creation & that to me it is hindrance & not Action; it is as the Dirt upon my feet, No part of Me.”

The visible world is treated as a film over true seeing · A Vision of the Last Judgment

• Perception
• Reality
• Vision

“The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, & breeds reptiles of the mind.”

Fixed opinion stagnates into mental disease · The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Change
• Mind
• Opinions

“Opposition is true Friendship.”

A friend who contends may serve better than one who only agrees · The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Conflict
• Friendship
• Truth

“Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd.”

Once truly grasped, truth does not remain a mere opinion · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Belief
• Truth
• Understanding

“Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement are roads of Genius.”

Genius keeps the irregular path that efficiency would straighten · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Art
• Genius
• Originality

“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”

Measure is learned by crossing the line, not by guessing it · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Desire
• Experience
• Moderation

“Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.”

A day's order that keeps thought, work, appetite and rest distinct · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Habit
• Rest
• Work

“Every thing possible to be believ'd is an image of truth.”

Belief is granted a share in truth even before it is proved · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Belief
• Imagination
• Truth

“Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.”

Candour is a filter as well as a virtue · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Character
• Honesty
• Speech

“One thought fills immensity.”

A single idea can occupy more space than a catalogue of facts · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Imagination
• Mind
• Thought

“The cistern contains; the fountain overflows.”

Hoarded capacity is set against living surplus · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Abundance
• Energy
• Generosity

“What is now proved was once only imagin'd.”

Proof is imagination that has grown a body of evidence · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Imagination
• Knowledge
• Possibility

“Excess of sorrow laughs. Excess of joy weeps.”

Feeling at its height crosses into the opposite expression · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Emotion
• Joy
• Sorrow

“The nakedness of woman is the work of God.”

The body is treated as sacred making, not a shame to be hidden · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Body
• Sacred
• Women

“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.”

Energies branded sinful are recast as divine abundance · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Desire
• Gods
• Nature

“Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion.”

Institutions of restraint manufacture the vices they condemn · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Hypocrisy
• Law
• Religion

“If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.”

A folly followed to the end may turn into knowledge · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Error
• Learning
• Wisdom

“The most sublime act is to set another before you.”

Greatness is measured by putting another first · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Compassion
• Generosity
• Virtue

“No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.”

Self-reliant ascent is not presumption · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Ambition
• Freedom
• Independence

“The hours of folly are measur'd by the clock, but of wisdom no clock can measure.”

Folly is countable; wisdom belongs to another kind of duration · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Folly
• Time
• Wisdom

“The busy bee has no time for sorrow.”

Work can crowd out self-pity without denying feeling · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Action
• Sorrow
• Work

“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”

The timeless is not hostile to what is made and passing · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Creation
• Eternity
• Time

“A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.”

The object is shared; the seeing is not · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Nature
• Perception
• Wisdom

“He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.”

Unused longing turns poisonous · Proverbs of Hell, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

• Action
• Consequences
• Desire