Saying with the word light

Proverbs with the word Light

Do you ever have days when everything seems a little dark and dismal?

When things just feel a little bit, well…off?

I’ve been having one today.

And, I’ll be honest, in an ideal world it isn’t how I’d choose to feel!

I want to be happy, smiling, and motivated, not gloomy, lethargic, and jaded.

In a bid to tackle this dreary mood head on, I thought I’d look into some quotes about the light and compile the best ones into a blog post.

With any luck, these quotes about light will be useful for anybody else who needs a pick me up! Let’s dive in…

In my experience, quotes about light can be a great way to lift yourself out of a dark and unhappy mood.

Here are 160 light quotes, broken down into sections (starting with my favourites!) that I hope will do exactly that if you’re in this position right now. 

My Favourite Light Quotes

1. “It’s better to light a candle than curse the dark.” – Unknown

2. “May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

3. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King Jr

4. “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ― Plato

5. “Pointing to another world will never stop vice among us; shedding light over this world can alone help us.” ― Walt Whitman

6. “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.” ― William Shakespeare

7. “Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world. Don’t let anything stand in the way of the light that shines through this form. Risk being seen in all of your glory.” ― Jim Carrey

8. “I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.” ― Og Mandino

9. “Life starts now, live, love, laugh and let your light shine!” ― Rob Liano

10. “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.” ― Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

11.

“No one lights a lamp in order to hide it behind the door: the purpose of light is to create more light, to open people’s eyes, to reveal the marvels around.”

12. “And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” ― The Holy Bible: King James Version

13. “Don’t turn away. Keep your gaze on the bandaged place. That’s where the light enters you.”
― Rumi

14. “When you find out that there was never anything in the dark side to be afraid of…Nothing is left but to love.” ― Alan Watts

15. “Just remember, a dark shadow need light to exist but light doesn’t need darkness to be luminous.” ― Gwen Hayes

16. “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

17. “Love is a weapon of Light, and it has the power to eradicate all forms of darkness. That is the key. When we offer love even to our enemies, we destroy their darkness and hatred…” ― Yehuda Berg

18. “It’s not in the book or in the writer that readers discern the truth of what they read; they see it in themselves, if the light of truth has penetrated their minds.” ― Augustine of Hippo

19. “The language of light can only be decoded by the heart.” ― Suzy Kassem

20. “Light can devour the darkness but darkness cannot consume the light.” ― Ken Poirot

Short Quotes for Light on Dark Days

21. “Love is not consolation. It is light.” – Simone Weil

22. “O, Sunlight! The most precious gold to be found on Earth.” ― Roman Payne

23. “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” ― Leonard Cohen

24. “Light flooded in. And with it, hope.” ― Traci Medford-Rosow

25. “Light attracts light.” – Warsan Shire

26. “In Light there is Dark, and in Dark there is Light.” ― Kami Garcia

27. “When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin

28. “Light up the darkness.” – Bob Marley

29. “The incandescence is you.” ― Jeanette LeBlanc

30. “There will always be a door to the light.” ― Shiro Amano

31.

“It’s hard to be a bright light in a dim world.”

32. “Surrounded by darkness yet enfolded in light.” ― Alan Brennert

33. “We must bring our own light to the darkness.” ― Charles Bukowski

34. “Light is easy to love. Show me your darkness.” ― R. Queen

35. “Stars and shadows ain’t good to see by.” ― Mark Twain

36. “The sun does not abandon the moon to darkness.” ― Brian A. McBride

37. “I’m only running forward, lighting up the dark within.” ― Lee Felix

38. “Light is good company, when alone.” ― Aimee Bender

39. “It’s up to you to find the light in my words.” ― Charles Lee

40. “So much light, sweet girl, begins in the dark.” ― Catherynne M. Valente

Memorable Be a Light Quotes

41. “She was bendable light: she shone around every corner of my day.” ― Jerry Spinelli

42. “The Sun will rise and set regardless. What we choose to do with the light while it’s here is up to us. Journey wisely.” ― Alexandra Elle

43. “Circles of life, born from pulses of light, vibrate to breathe, while spiraling outwards for infinity through the lens of time, and into a sea of stars and lucid dreams.” ― Suzy Kassem

44. “Light, Light, The visible reminder of Invisible Light.” ― T.S. Eliot

45. “If a man is to shed the light of the sun upon other men, he must first of all have it within himself.” ― Romain Rolland

46. “Darkness will always try to extinguish the light. The light will always try to repress the darkness.” ― Morgan Rhodes

47. “I am part of a light, and it is the music. The Light fills my six senses: I see it, hear, feel, smell, touch and think. Thinking of it means my sixth sense.” ― Nikola Tesla

48. “Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.” ― John Milton, Paradise Lost

49. “The most precious light is the one that visits you in your darkest hour!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

50. “The people who love you will guide you like bright lights into the other worlds.” ― Josephine Angelini

51.

“Most of us are imprisoned by something. We’re living in darkness until something flips on the switch.”

52. “My first memory is of light — the brightness of light — light all around.” ― Georgia O’Keefe

53. “Remember that each light between sunrise and sunset is worth dying for at least once.”
― Tad Williams

54. “Do not give them a candle to light the way, teach them how to make fire instead. That is the meaning of enlightenment.” ― Kamand Kojouri

55. “Just as a painter needs light in order to put the finishing touches to his picture, so I need an inner light, which I feel I never have enough of in the autumn.” ― Leo Tolstoy

56. “The dark and the light, they exist side by side, sometimes overlapping, one explaining the other. The darkened path is as illuminated as the lightened, only the fear of the dark keeps us from seeing our way.” ― Raven Davies

57. “Like most hearts, it was complicated, shaded with dark and dappled with light.” ― Kate DiCamillo

58. “I warn you, the trip will not be easy. Once you choose to walk in the light, your path will lead you places you do not want to go.” ― Dave Wolverton

59. “Praise God who has set the stars to give light at night.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita

60. “He carries stars in his pockets because he knows she fears the dark.” ― Alaska Gold

Inspiring Light within Quotes

61. “To shine your brightest light is to be who you truly are.” ― Roy T. Bennett

62. “Whatever you are physically…male or female, strong or weak, ill or healthy—all those things matter less than what your heart contains. If you have the soul of a warrior, you are a warrior. All those other things, they are the glass that contains the lamp, but you are the light inside.” ― Cassandra Clare

63. “There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights.” ― Bram Stoker, Dracula

64. There’s no point dwelling in the dark and ignoring the light of the stars.” ― Carrie Hope Fletcher

65. “What if I’m in charge of my own damn light switch?” ― Jandy Nelson

66. “The Warrior of the Light is a believer. Because he believes in miracles, miracles begin to happen. Because he is sure that his thoughts can change his life, his life begins to change. Because he is certain that he will find love, love appears.” ― Paulo Coelho

67. “You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your own way can illuminate the world.” ― Oprah Winfrey

68. “Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.” ― Roy T. Bennett

69. “I used to cover my windows in heavy curtains, never drawn. Now I danced in the sunlight on my hardwood floors.” ― Kimberly Novose

70. “’Everybody’s got the seam of goodness in them, Kit,’ said Grandpa. ‘Just a matter of whether it can be found and brought out into the light.’” ― David Almond

71.

“No man can walk so long in the Shadow that he cannot come again to the Light.”

72. “It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but that you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.” ― Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

73. “Being the light of the world is about being a broken, exploding, scarred star and shining a light of hope and inspiration to everyone around you.” ― Ricky Maye

74. “I want to know what you see in the darkness other than stars.” ― Anthony T. Hincks

75. “A warrior of the Light is never in a hurry. Time works in his favor; he learns to master his impatience and avoids acting without thinking.” ― Paulo Coelho

76. “You cannot defeat darkness by running from it, nor can you conquer your inner demons by hiding them from the world. In order to defeat the darkness, you must bring it into the light.” ― Seth Adam Smith

77. “If God created shadows it was to better emphasise the light.” ― Pope John XXIII

78. “Many times in life it’s not about turning on the light. Rather, it’s about refusing to pull the shades.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

79. “Darkness invites you to create a light show.” ― Shunya

80. “When you’re older, you will realise the only thing that matters, the only thing, is that you had courage and honour. Lose those things and you won’t die any quicker, but you’ll be less than the dirt on our boots. You’ll still be dust, but you’ll have wasted your short time in the light.” ― Conn Iggulden

Insightful Quotes about Lighting Up

81. “Numb the dark and you numb the light.” ― Brené Brown

82. “Light is more important than the lantern. The poem more important than the notebook.” ― Nizar Qabbani

83. “The brighter the light, the deeper the shadow.” ― Jay Kristoff

84. “There is strange comfort in knowing that no matter what happens today, the Sun will rise again tomorrow.” ― Aaron Lauritsen

85. “You were born a child of light’s wonderful secret — you return to the beauty you have always been.” ― Aberjhani

86. “Fear can only grow in darkness. Once you face fear with light, you win.” ― Steve Maraboli

87. “Accept your dark side, understanding it will help you to move with the light. Knowing both sides of our souls, helps us all to move forward in life and to understand that, perfection doesn’t exist.” ― Martin R. Lemieux

88. “I’m sorry, Gemma. But we can’t live in the light all of the time. You have to take whatever light you can hold into the dark with you.” ― Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty

89. “As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.” ― Mary Anne Radmacher

90. “Light is shallow; darkness is infinitely deep. Light is always bounded, it has boundaries. Darkness has no boundaries, it is unbounded. Light comes and goes; darkness always is. When there is light you cannot see it. When light is not there you can see it. But it is always there; you cannot cause it. Light has a cause. You burn the fire, you put on wood. When the wood is finished the light will be gone. It is caused, hence it is an effect. But darkness is not caused by anything, it is not an effect. It is uncaused eternity.” ― Osho

91.

“I had forgotten how much light there is in the world, till you gave it back to me.”

92. “The light of day showed you the limits of possibility. But walk through the dark, the absolute, total darkness, and the possibilities were limitless.” ― Michael Grant

93. “No, you don’t shoot things. You capture them. Photography means painting with light. And that’s what you do. You paint a picture only by adding light to the things you see.” ― Katja Michael

94. “The darkest hours bring the most light.” ― Dominic Riccitello

95. “It requires no special talent to be a shadow; but to be a light, you need to be burning inwardly!” ― Mehmet Murat Ildan

96. “The path of light is the quest for knowledge.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita

97. “There is only one perpetrator of evil on the planet: human unconsciousness. That realization is true forgiveness. With forgiveness, your victim identity dissolves, and your true power emerges -the power of Presence. Instead of blaming the darkness, you bring in the light.” ― Eckhart Tolle

98. “He who does not see the light in others does not see the light in himself.” ― Doreen DeVore

99. “Light is important to us humans. It influences our moods, our perceptions, our energy levels. A face glimpsed among trees, dappled by the shadows and the green-tinged light reflected from the forest, will seem quite different to the same face seen on a beach in hard, dry, sunlight, or in a darkening room at twilight, with the shadows of a venetian blind striped across it like a convict’s uniform.” ― John Marsden

100. “Bringing joy to another lights a thousand suns within.” ― Amy Leigh Mercree

Beautiful Quotations on Light

101. “The light teaches you to convert life into a festive promenade.” ― Dejan Stojanovic

102. “In the depth a light will grow, a silver shine no shadows know, like wings unfolding in the sky, that circle ’round a gleaming eye, turning darkness all away, even depths will know their day, for every shadow has its end, in light! Life will return again!” ― Robert Fanney

103. “And when the dawn comes creeping in, cautiously I shall raise myself to watch the daylight win.” ― D.H. Lawrence

104. “Dark, light, dark, light, dark-I swung and missed.” ― Daniel Handler

105. “Life isn’t just about darkness or light, rather it’s about finding light within the darkness.”
― Landon Parham

106. “What would be the significance of the candlelight, if there were no darkness? What would be the power of the stars over our minds, if there were no night?” ― C. JoyBell C.

107. “Baby you’re the only thing in this whole world that’s pure and good and right and wherever you are and wherever you go there’s always gonna be some light.” ― Meat Loaf

108. “Love lights the way.” ― Adrienne Posey

109. “Give light and people will find the way.” – Ella Baker

110. “It is in the darkest hour, when we are faced with our deepest most wrenching fears, that we are given the greatest strength. The choice is whether we succumb to the fear or rise with courage to face our truth and shine our brilliance as our sword of valour.” ― Monika Zands

111.

“It will be tough before the light appears. Relish the dark path anyway.”

112. “Remember who you are at the deepest level of your Soul, as you embrace the Light and Love of God within you.” ― Heidi M. Morrison

113. “Following the light of the sub, we left the Old World.” – Christoper Columbus

114. “We’re just bits of light, Trying to illuminate, We’re just sound vibrations, With a unique pace, Wading in the waves, oh, Sailing through this sea, Making divine consecrations, Of the life we live.” ― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr

115. “Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.” – Madeline L’Engle

116. “Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark…Make some light.” ― Kate DiCamillo

117. “See the light in others, and treat them as if that is all you see.” – Wayne Dyer

118. “There is no darkness so dense, so menacing, or so difficult that it cannot be overcome by light.” – Vern P. Stanfill

119. “Listen to the inner light; it will guide you. Listen to the inner peace; it will feed you. Listen to the inner love; it will transform you.” – Sri Chinmoy

120. “Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.” – Helen Keller

Let your Light Shine Quotes

121. “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” Maya Angelou

122. “When you go home you ought to go like a ray of light—so that it will, even in the night, burst out of the doors and windows and illuminate the darkness.” ― Robert G. Ingersoll

123. “The Light is always there. How much light comes to you depends on you.” ― Master Choa Kok Su

124. “The cracks in your heart are there so the light can shine through.” ― Elizabeth Noble

125. “It’s not that we fear the place of darkness, but that we don’t think we are worth the effort to find the place of light.” ― Hugh Prather

126. “When I feel the heat, I see the light.” ― Everett Dirksen

127. “We fear many kinds of darkness, and we often feel that we don’t deserve any kind of light.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

128. “To do? Lad, there is but one thing to do. Live your light. Everything else shall fall into place.” ― David Paul Kirkpatrick

129. “If you find your way out of the dark,» said Bear. «Remember to return with the light so that others might find their way out too.” ― Tara Shannon

130. “Did you know, when you left that room, you took all the light with you?” ― Courtney Milan

131.

“That is what you meant to me: a light that shone through the darkness.”

132. “Within you is the light of a thousand suns.” – Robert Adams

133. “An empty lantern provides no light. Self-care is the fuel that allows your light to shine brightly.” – Unknown

134. “When you possess light within, you see it externally.” – Anais Nin

135. “Look at light and admire its beauty. Close your eyes, and then look again: what you saw is no longer there; and what you will see later is not yet.” – Leonardo da Vinci

136. “You can overcome whatever is going on around you if you believe in the light that lives within you.” ― Justine Edward

137. “A candle loses nothing when it lights another candle.” – Thomas Jefferson

138. “If we only look within, we will see the Light as if we were seeing our own image in a mirror.” – Sri S. Satchidananda

139. “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” – Albert Schweitzer

140. “Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.” – Kahlil Gibran

Awesome Captions about Light

141. Be a well of light, quenching the thirst for all those in darkness around you.

142. Sometimes the brightest light comes from within, not without.

143. Do not curse the dark. Without it, you’d never notice the light.

144. Be the light that inspires the rest.

145. All the light you could ever need is already within you.

146. Golden light melts from my eyes as I see the world in its almighty glory.

147. When darkness is everywhere, light is everything. Don’t let yours go out.

148. It’s said that you have to know the darkness to appreciate the light.

149. A daydream, a smile, a light. Let poetry drip from your lips and darkness dissipate in the depth of your love.

150. Be a spark of light that no depth of darkness can hide.

151.

“Alight, my love, and see with my eyes the fire within your soul.”

152. Light the lantern of love within you.

153. As Debbie Dewey once said, “When there is a thirst for hope, light has no choice but to shine.”

154. Behind the darkest clouds there’s always light.

155. When the blackest night hits its darkest point, the light of dawn is soon to come.

156. Light up the world with your smile, energy, and beauty.

157. You are the light of my life.

158. See the light at the end of the tunnel.

159. Treasure the light. It leads the way.

160. As Victor Hugo once said, “To love beauty is to see light.”

Don’t Forget These Quotes about Light!

On dark and gloomy days, it always helps to seek out sources of light.

Thankfully, you don’t usually have to look too hard!

If you can keep your eyes and heart open, there’s always something to be grateful for, to inspire a sense of hope, or to raise a smile to your lips.

I hope these quotes about the light will serve that purpose for anyone who’s looking for a lift today!

Commit one or two of these quotes about light to memory and, with any luck, they’ll provide a pick me up when you need it most.

Looking for more quotes like these? Here are 100 quotes about smiling through pain.

Did you like these light inspirational quotes and light captions? Read these next:

Light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength that is visible to the eye.

Quotes[edit]

A[edit]

• It is manifest that everything in the world, whether it be substance or accident, produces rays in its own manner like a star… Everything that has actual existence in the world of the elements emits rays in every direction, which fill the whole world.
  • Al-Kindi, De Causis diuersitatum aspectus et dandis demonstrationibus geometricus super eas, also known as De Aspectibus (ca. 860) as quoted by David C. Lindberg, Theories of Vision from Al-kindi to Kepler (1976)

• The light will not shame you, if it shows you your own ugliness, and that ugliness so offends you that you perceive the beauty of the light.
  • Augustine, Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John (414), First Homily, as translated by John Burnaby (1955), p. 262

B[edit]

• Corruption springs from light: ’tis one same power
  Creates, preserves, destroys; matter whereon
  It works, on e’er self-transmutative form,
  Common to now the living, now the dead.
  • Philip James Bailey, Festus (1813), scene Water and Wood.

• The light in the world comes principally from two sources,—the sun, and the student’s lamp.
  • Christian Nestell Bovee, Intuitions and Summaries of Thought (1862), Volume II, p. 16.

• Do not complain and cry and pray, but open your eyes and see, for the light is all about you, and it is so wonderful, so beautiful, so far beyond anything of which men have ever dreamt, for which they have ever prayed, and it is for ever and for ever.
  • Gautama Buddha, quoted by Charles Webster Leadbeater, in The Masters and the Path (1925) p. 229

• For I light my candle from their torches.
  • Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), Part III. Sect, II. Memb. 5. Subsec. 1.

• The light
  Begin to bleed,
  Begin to breathe,
  Begin to speak.
  D’you know what?
  I love you better now.
  • Kate Bush, in «The Morning Fog» in The Ninth Wave, on Hounds of Love (1985).

C[edit]

• The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light.
  • Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (1988), Ch. 2 : The Journey Inward.

D[edit]

• Phenomena were accounted for by taking into consideration the frictional resistances that would interfere with rapid vibrations of the electrons. When these frictional resistances were weak, oscillatory disturbances, such as rays of light, could be propogated through the diaelectric, which was then termed transparent (glass). When these frictional forces were considerable, the light ray was unable to set the electrons into vibration; its energy was consumed in the attempt, and as a result it could not proceed; the dielectric was then opaque (ebonite, sulphur).
  • A. D’Abro, The Evolution of Scientific Thought from Newton to Einstein (1927) p. 130

• Regardless of the prophetic value of Dirac’s description [on interference] his was probably the first discussion… including a coherent beam of light. In other words, Dirac wrote the first chapter in laser optics.

• F. J. Duarte (2003). Tunable Laser Optics. Elsevier Academic. p. 3. ISBN 0-12-222696-8.

• May you grow up to be righteous
  May you grow up to be true
  May you always know the truth
  And see the lights surrounding you.
  • Bob Dylan, «Forever Young» (from Planet Waves, 1974)

E[edit]

• A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson, in «Self-Reliance: in Essays : First Series (1841).

F[edit]

• Light (God’s eldest daughter!).
  • Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Profane State (1642), Book III. Of Building

G[edit]

• Light itself is a great corrective. A thousand wrongs and abuses that are grown in darkness disappear, like owls and bats, before the light of day.
  • James A. Garfield, as quoted in General Garfield as a Statesman and Orator (1881) edited by the Republican Party National Committee, p. 59.

• And God said: «Let there be light,» and there was light.
  • Genesis 1:3

• Master, Master of Light,
  Whose eye dwells in the seeking fingers of the blind,
  You are still despised and mocked,
  A man too weak and infirm to be God,
  A God too much man to call forth adoration.
  • Khalil Gibran, in Jesus, The Son of Man (1928), «A Man From Lebanon: Nineteen Centuries Afterward».

• There is strong shadow where there is much light.
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Götz von Berlichingen, Act I (1773).

• The eye owes its existence to the light. Out of indifferent animal organs the light produces an organ to correspond to itself; and so the eye is formed by the light, for the light so that the inner light may meet the outer… If the eye were not sunlike, how could we perceive the light?
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Zur Farbenlehre (1810) in Goethes Werke, Hamburger Ausgabe (1982) Vol. 13, ed. Erich Trunz, Tr. Arthur Zajonc, in Catching the Light (1993) p. 184.

• The obstacle was what Schiller and Koerner once called the «sensual element» in Goethe’s philosophy, and which, years after the death of both Kant and Schiller, came out in Goethe in a most typical fashion when young Schopenhauer, a zealous and thorough-going Kantian, tried to explain that light would cease to exist along with the seeing eye. «What!» he said, according to Schopenhauer’s own report, «looking at him with his Jove-like eyes,»—»You should rather say that you would not exist if the light could not see you?»
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe as quoted by Friedrich Jodl, «Goethe and Kant,» The Monist (1901) f. Edward C. Hegeler, ed. Paul Carus, Vol. 11, p. 264. As translated from Professor Jodl’s MS. by W. H. Carruth, of the University of Kansas.

H[edit]

• There can be no doubt that light consists of the motion of a certain substance. For if we examine its production, we find that here on earth it is principally fire and flame which engender it, both of which contain beyond doubt bodies which are in rapid movement, since they dissolve and destroy many other bodies more solid than they: while if we regard its effects, we see that when light is accumulated, say by concave mirrors, it has the property of combustion just as fire has, that is to say, it disunites the parts of bodies, which is assuredly a proof of motion, at least in the true philosophy, in which the causes of all natural effects are conceived as mechanical causes. Which in my judgment must be accomplished or all hope of ever understanding physics is renounced.
  • Christiaan Huygens, Traite de la Lumière (1690) p. 2, as quoted by Ernst Mach, «On the Principle of the Conservation of Energy» in Popular Scientific Lectures (1895) pp. 155-156, Tr. Thomas J. McCormack.

I[edit]

• Nations will go to your light

And kings to your shining splendor.

• Isaiah 60:3, NWT

J[edit]

• I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will by no means walk in darkness, but will possess the light of life.
  • Jesus Christ, in John 8:12

• And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
  • John the Evangelist, in John 1:5 (KJV).

• Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest.
  • Gospel of John 3:20-21 KJV

• Our faith is a light by nature coming of our endless Day, that is our Father, God. In which light our Mother, Christ, and our good Lord, the Holy Ghost, leadeth us in this passing life. This light is measured discreetly, needfully standing to us in the night. The light is cause of our life; the night is cause of our pain and of all our woe: in which we earn meed and thanks of God. For we, with mercy and grace, steadfastly know and believe our light, going therein wisely and mightily.
  • Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (c. 1393).

K[edit]

• We are actually born out of light, you might say. I believe light is the maker of all material. Material is spent light.
  • Louis Kahn, Time Magazine (Jan. 15, 1973)

• And this I know; whether the one True Light
  Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite,
  One flash of it within the Tavern caught
  Better than in the temple lost outright.
  • Omar Khayyam, in FitzGerald’s translation of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1120), Stanza 77.

L[edit]

• Seeing into darkness is clarity.
  Knowing how to yield is strength.
  Use your own light
  and return to the source of light.
  This is called practicing eternity.
  • Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (late 4th century BC) Tr. Stephen Mitchell (1988)

• The flame that burns Twice as bright burns half as long.
  • Lao Tzu, Te Tao Ching

• Genius is not so much a light as it is a constant awareness of the surrounding gloom.
  • Stanisław Lem, in His Master’s Voice (1968) as translated by Michael Kandel (1983).

M[edit]

• I will love the light for it shows me the way. Yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.
  • Og Mandino, in The Greatest Salesman in the World (1968), Ch. 9 : The Scroll Marked II, p. 59.

• In fact, when the eye perceives bright light one of four reactions may take place. These are, in order of increasing brightness: dazzle, after image formation, flash blindness, and irreversible damage. Most individuals will have experienced dazzle as a result of oncoming car headlights and persistent after images from accidentally staring at the filament of an incandescent bulb. Both dazzle and after images will distort vision for some seconds to minutes. Flash blindness occurs when an extremely bright flash is discharged, usually at night, and again vision is temporarily lost. All three reactions would be useful in temporarily disabling a pilot and causing him to abort close approach to a target. If even higher irradiances reach the retina then irreversible damage may occur. In practice, a laser system that will dazzle at one mile may permanently blind at closer range.
  • John Marshall, «Blinding Laser Weapons: Still Available on the Battlefield», British Medical Journal. 315 (7120): (29 November 1997), p. 1392.

• Velocity of transverse undulations in our hypothetical medium, calculated from the electromagnetic experiments of ‘MM’. Kohlrausch and Weber, agrees so exactly with the velocity of light calculated from the optical experiments of M. Fizeau, that we can scarcely avoid the conclusion that light consists in the transverse undulations of the same medium which is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena.
  • James Clerk Maxwell, Lecture at Kings College (1862) as quoted by F. V. Jones, «The Man Who Paved the Way for Wireless,» New Scientist (Nov 1, 1979) p. 348 & Andrey Vyshedskiy, On The Origin Of The Human Mind (2014) 2nd edition.

• The general equations are next applied to the case of a magnetic disturbance propagated through a non-conductive field, and it is shown that the only disturbances which can be so propagated are those which are transverse to the direction of propagation, and that the velocity of propagation is the velocity v, found from experiments such as those of Weber, which expresses the number of electrostatic units of electricity which are contained in one electromagnetic unit. This velocity is so nearly that of light, that it seems we have strong reason to conclude that light itself (including radiant heat, and other radiations if any) is an electromagnetic disturbance in the form of waves propagated through the electromagnetic field according to electromagnetic laws.
  • James Clerk Maxwell, A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field (1864), §20.

• That light is not itself a substance may be proved from the phenomenon of interference. A beam of light from a single source is divided by certain optical methods into two parts, and these, after travelling by different paths, are made to reunite and fall upon a screen. If either half of the beam is stopped, the other falls on the screen and illuminates it, but if both are allowed to pass, the screen in certain places becomes dark, and thus shows that the two portions of light have destroyed each other. Now, we cannot suppose that two bodies when put together can annihilate each other; therefore light cannot be a substance. … What we have proved is that one portion of light can be the exact opposite of another portion… Such quantities are the measures, not of substances, but always of processes taking place in a substance. We therefore conclude that light is… a process going on in a substance… so that when the two portions [of light] are combined no process goes on at all. …the light is extinguished when the difference of the length of the paths is an odd multiple of… a half wave-length. …we see on the screen a set of fringes consisting of dark lines at equal intervals, with bright bands of graduated intensity between them. …if the two rays are polarized …when the two planes of polarization are parallel the phenomena of interference appear as above …As the plane turns …light bands become less distinct …at right angles …illumination of the screen becomes uniform, and no trace of interference can be discovered. …The process may, however, be an electromagnetic one …the electric displacement and the magnetic disturbance are perpendicular to each other, either …supposed to be in the plane of polarization.
  • James Clerk Maxwell, «Ether, or Æther,» Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition (1878)

• I have also cleared the electromagnetic theory of light from all unwarrantable assumption, so that we may safely determine the velocity of light by measuring the attraction between bodies kept at a given difference of potential, the value of which is known in electromagnetic measure.
  • James Clerk Maxwell, Letter to C. Hockin, Esq. (Sept 7, 1864) as quoted by Lewis Campbell, William Garnett, The Life of James Clerk Maxwell: With Selections from His Correspondence and Occasional Writings (1884)

• An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.
  • James A. Michener, Space (1982).

• With thy long levell’d rule of streaming light.
  • John Milton, Comus (1637), line 340.

• He that has light within his own clear breast
  May sit i’ th’ centre and enjoy bright day;
  But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts
  Benighted walks under the mid-day sun.
  • John Milton, Comus (1637), line 381.

• Hail, holy light! offspring of heaven firstborn!
  Or of th’ eternal co-eternal beam,
  May I express thee unblam’d? since God is light
  And never but in unapproached light
  Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,
  Bright effluence of bright essence increate!
  • John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667; 1674), Bk III, line 1.

• Dark with excessive bright.
  • John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667; 1674), Book III, line 380.

• And from her native east,
  To journey through the aery gloom began,
  Spher’d in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun
  Was not.
  • John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667; 1674), Book VII, line 245.

• There swift return
  Diurnal, merely to officiate light
  Round this opacous earth, this punctual spot.
  • John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667; 1674), Book VIII, line 21.

• For… small things, there must be something else.
  There is. We call it the electric interaction (more generally, the electromagnetic interaction), and it arises from an endowment of matter known as the electric charge. Standing still, an electrically charged particle throws up an electric potential to which other charged particles can respond.
  Electric or magnetic, charge gives rise to both. Whether we say «electric potential» (because we perceive a charge to be at rest) or «magnetic potential» (because we perceive a charge to be in motion), the difference lies solely in our point of view. The source is one.
  From the world of mass we descend… into the world of charge, ready to see our most familiar surroundings in a new light. Let there be electric charge.
  • Michael Munowitz, Knowing: The Nature of Physical Law (2005)

N[edit]

• I am light; oh that I were night! But this is my loneliness, that I am girded by light.
  Oh that I were dark and nocturnal! How I would suck at the breasts of light!
  And even you I would bless, you little twinkling stars and glowworms up there! – And be blissful for your gift of light.
  But I live in my own light, I drink back into myself the flames that break out of me.
  • Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1891), Night Song, translated by Adrian Del Caro

• Light became their favorite subject on account of its mathematical obediance and freedom of movement. They were more interested in the play of its colors, and thus they named after it their great enterprise, the Enlightenment.
  • Novalis, Christendom or Europe (1799) referring to the French Enlightenment.

P[edit]

• In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.
  • Blaise Pascal, quoted in Thoughts from Earth (2004), p. 9.

• Before God, who preserves all things alive, and Christ Jesus, who as a witness made the fine public declaration before Pontius Pilate, I give you orders to observe the commandment in a spotless and irreprehensible way until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which the happy and only Potentate will show in its own appointed times. He is the King of those who rule as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords, the one alone having immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal might. Amen.
  • Paul of Tarsus, Timothy 6:13-16, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

• Among all the studies of natural causes and reasons, light most delights the contemplators; among the great things of mathematics, the certainty of its demonstrations most illustriously elevates the minds of its investigators; perspective must therefore be preferred to all human discourses and disciplines, in the study in which radiant lines are expounded by means of demonstrations and in which the glory is found not only of mathematics, but also physics: it is adorned with the flowers of one and the other.
  • John Pecham, Perspectiva communis, translated by, and appearing in the notebooks (C.A._543r) of Leonardo da Vinci, as quoted by Martin Kemp, Leonardo Da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man (2006) p. 112.

• [W]ith regard to light, that it consists of vibrations was almost proved by the phenomena of diffraction, while those of polarisation showed the excursions of the particles to be perpendicular to the line of propogation; but the phenomena of dispersion, etc., require additional hypotheses which may be very complicated. Thus, the further progress of molecular speculation appears quite uncertain. If hypotheses are to be tried haphazard, or simply because they will suit certain phenomena, it will occupy the mathematical physicists of the world say half a century on the average to bring each theory to the test, and since the number of possible theories may go up into the trillion, only one of which can be true, we have little prospect of making further solid additions to the subject in our time.
  • Charles Sanders Pierce, «The Architecture of Theories» in The Monist (January 1891) Vol. I, No. 2, p. 161ff.

• Once there was only dark. If you ask me, the light’s winning.
  • Nic Pizzolatto, writer for «Rust» Cohle, Matthew McConaughey, True Detective (TV series), Form and Void

• I propose to discuss this afternoon certain effects of the energy which is continuously pouring out from the sun on all sides with the speed of light—the energy which we call sunlight when we enjoy the brilliance of a cloudless sky, which we call heat when we bask in its warmth, the stream of radiation which supports all life on our globe and is the source of all our energy. …
  … Beyond the violet are the still shorter waves, which affect a photographic plate or a fluorescent screen, and will pass through certain substances opaque to ordinary light. Here, for instance, is a filter, devised by Professor Wood, which stops visible rays, but allows the shorter invisible waves to pass and excite the fluorescence of a platinocyanide screen.
  Again, beyond the red end are still longer waves, which are present in very considerable amount, and can be rendered evident by their heating effect. We can easily filter out the visible rays and still leave these long waves in the beam by passing it through a thin sheet of vulcanite. A piece of phosphorus placed at the focus of these invisible rays is at once fired, or a thermometer quickly rises in temperature.
  • John Henry Poynting, «Radiation in the solar system». Smithsonian Report for 1904: 185–193. (p. 185)

Q[edit]

• God is the light of the heavens and the earth. The similitude of His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass.The glass is as it were a shining star. (This lamp is) kindled from a blessed tree, an olive neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil would almost glow forth (of itself) though no fire touched it. Light upon light, God guideth unto His light whome he will. And God speaketh to mankind in allegories, for God is knower of all things.
  • Quran, 24:35.

R[edit]

• In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.
  • Aaron Rose, quoted in The Reader’s Digest Vol. 152 (1998), p. 185, also in Live in the Light : A Journal of Self-Enlightenment (2003) by Mary Engelbreit.

S[edit]

• Light seeking light doth light of light beguile:
  So, ere you find where light in darkness lies,
  Your light grows dark by losing of your eyes
  • William Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost (c. 1595-6), Act I, scene 1, line 77.

• The path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established.
  • Solomon, PROVERBS 4:18

T[edit]

• There are two kinds of light — the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures.
  • James Thurber, Lanterns and Lances‎ (1963).

W[edit]

• Love is not consolation, it is light.
  • Simone Weil, as quoted in Simone Weil (1954) by Eric Walter Frederick Tomlin, p. 47.

• For many centuries before modern science, and for the first two and a half centuries of modern science, the division of reality into matter and light seemed self-evident. …As long as the separation between the massive and the massless persisted, a unified description of the physical world could not be achieved.
  • Frank Wilczek, The Lightness of Being – Mass, Ether and the Unification of Forces (2008)

Z[edit]

• Light was once the sight of God. As the gaze of Ra spanned space… In the night sky, planets and stars once played host to gods and angels, who in turn passed their gift of light to man…
  • Arthur Zajonc, Catching the Light: The Entwined History of Light and Mind (1993)

• With the passing of the Cathars and of Grosseteste, the religious tradition of angelic light faded. Over time, science pruned away the trappings of spirit to fashion a material and mathematical imagination of light. In doing so, it similarly reshaped its image of man and cosmos.
  • Arthur Zajonc, Catching the Light: The Entwined History of Light and Mind (1993)

Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations[edit]

Quotes reported in Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 455-57.

• Now that the sun is gleaming bright,
  Implore we, bending low,
  That He, the Uncreated Light,
  May guide us as we go.
  • Attributed to Adam de Saint Victor. Old Latin Hymn said to have been sung at the death-bed of William the Conqueror.

• Misled by Fancy’s meteor-ray,
  By passion driven;
  But yet the light that led astray,
  Was light from Heaven.
  • Robert Burns, The Vision.

• Hinc lucem et pocula sacra.
  • Hence light and the sacred vessels.
  • Motto of Cambridge University.

• Light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it beautiful.
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, Chapter III.

• I shall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out.
  • II Esdras, XIV. 25.

• And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
  • Genesis. I. 3.

• Against the darkness outer
  God’s light his likeness takes,
  And he from the mighty doubter
  The great believer makes.
  • R. W. Gilder, The New Day, Part IV. Song XV.

• Mehr Licht!
  • More light!
  • Said to be the last words of Goethe

• Wo viel Licht is, ist starker Schatten.
  • Where there is much light, the shadows are deepest.
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Götz von Berlichingen, I, 24.

• Blasted with excess of light.
  • Thomas Gray, Progress of Poesy.

• Like our dawn, merely a sob of light.
  • Victor Hugo, La Legende des Siécles.

• The true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
  • John. I. 9.

• He was a burning and a shining light
  • John. V. 35.

• Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.
  • John, XII. 35.

• The Light that Failed.
  • Rudyard Kipling, Title of Story.

• The prayer of Ajax was for light;
  Through all that dark and desperate fight,
  The blackness of that noonday night.
  • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Goblet of Life, Stanza 8.

• Fra l’ ombre un lampo solo
  Basta al nocchier fugace
  Che già ritrova il polo,
  Già riconosce il mar.
  • In the dark a glimmering light is often sufficient for the pilot to find the polar star and to fix his course.
  • Metastasio, Achille, 1, 6.

• Where glowing embers through the room
  Teach light to counterfeit a gloom.
  • John Milton, Il Penseroso (1631), line 79.

• But let my due feet never fail
  To walk the studious cloisters pale,
  And love the high embowed roof,
  With antique pillars massy proof,
  And storied windows richly dight;
  Casting a dim religious light.
  • John Milton, Il Penseroso (1631), line 155. Compare Euripides, Bacchæ, 486.

• Where art thou, beam of light? Hunters from the mossy rock, saw ye the blue-eyed fair?
  • Ossian, Temora, Book VI.

• Ex luce lucellum.
  • Out of light a little profit.
  • William Pitt’s description of the Window Tax. Also suggested by Robert Lowe, Chancellor, as a motto for matchboxes, when the British Government introduced a match tax, 1871.

• Those having lamp will pass them on to others.
  • Plato, Republic, 328.

• Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night:
  God said, «Let Newton be!» and all was light.
  • Alexander Pope, Epitaph Intended for Sir Isaac Newton.

• Nur der Gewissenswurm schwärmt mit der Eule. Sünder und böse Geister scheun das Licht.
  • Only the worm of conscience consorts with the owl. Sinners and evil spirits shun the light.
  • Friedrich Schiller, Liebe und Cabale, V. I.

• But it is not necessary to light a candle to the sun.
  • Algernon Sidney, Discourses on Government, Chapter II, Section XXIII.

• ‘Twas a light that made
  Darkness itself appear
  A thing of comfort.
  • Robert Southey, The Curse of Kehama, Padalon, Stanza 2.

• An unreflected light did never yet
  Dazzle the vision feminine.
  • Sir Henry Taylor, Philip Van Artevelde, Part I, Act I, scene 5, line 88.

• Thy prayer was «Light—more Light»—while Time shall last
  Thou sawest a glory growing on the night,
  But not the shadows which that light would cast,
  Till shadows vanish in the Light of Light.
  • Alfred Tennyson, Inscription on the Window in memory of Caxton, in St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, London.

• Where God and Nature met in light.
  • Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H. (1849), Part CXI, Stanza 5.

• A remnant of uneasy light.
  • William Wordsworth, The Matron of Jedborough, and Her Husband.

• The light that never was on sea or land,
  The consecration, and the poet’s dream.
  • William Wordsworth, Elegiac Stanzas. Suggested by a picture of Peele Castle in a storm.

• But ne’er to a seductive lay let faith be given;
  Nor deem that «light that leads astray» is light from Heaven.
  • William Wordsworth, To the Sons of Burns.

See also[edit]

• Candles
• Darkness
• History of optics
• Lightning
• Photon

External links[edit]