ON DISPLAY-GOODNESS, OR CONSPICUOUS MORALITY

- by William Blake

As Unity is the cloak of Folly,
so Goodness is the cloak of Knavery.

Those who will have Unity exclusively in Homer
come out with a Moral like a sting in the tail.

Aristotle says Characters are either good or bad; now
Goodness or Badness has nothing to do with Character.

An apple tree, a pear tree, a horse, a lion are Characters;
but a good apple tree or a bad is an apple tree still:

a horse is not more a lion for being a bad horse;
that is its Character:

its Goodness or Badness
Is another consideration.

The Ancients called it
eating of the Tree of Good and Evil.

- William Blake - from 'On Homer's Poetry c.1818- in 'The Prophecies'