Originally Posted by gspsplease
I heard this a few years ago and it really spoke to me:
"Man is born to joy and woe,
And when this we fully know,
Safely through the world we go"
I think it's an old English saying but would love to know if anyone knows any more about it.
You will find it in the works of William Blake, English poet 1757-1827. It appears in Auguries of Innocence, 1801-3, as follows:-
Man was made for joy and woe
And when this we rightly know
Through the world we safely go
It may have existed as a saying before this. It's like when you hear people going on about how many sayings come from Shakespeare...not necessarily so, he may have been writing and adapting sayings that he heard around him and been the first to write them down.
No, I'm not a genius or authority on William Blake. I googled the first line of the rhyme and ended up on the Wikipedia page for William Blake.
Thank you for giving me the excuse to sing "Jerusalem" in the kitchen. It is the poem William Blake is best remembered for today.