"he who would do good must do so in minute particulars"

Posted by Pamela on December 12, 2006

In Reply to: "He who would do good must do so in minute particulars" posted by ESC on December 12, 2006

: : what does the following phrase by william blake mean? and how do we use it?...
: : "he who would do good must do so in minute particulars"

: This is just a guess. Maybe it means if you want to do good for society at large, you must also do good on a personal, intimate basis. Like the old Three Dog Night song, Easy to be Hard:

: "...How can people have no feelings
: How can they ignore their friends
: Easy to be proud, easy to say no

: Especially people who care about strangers
: Who care about evil and social injustice
: Do you only care about bleeding crowd
: How about a needing friend, I need a friend..."

: But I could be wrong.
The full quote (from brainyquote.com) is "He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars: general Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars." William Blake. Pamela

• "He who would do good must do so in minute particulars" Smokey Stover 14/December/06