‘Leaving Belfast'
Each sudden gust of light explains itself
as flames, but neither they, nor even
bombs redoubled on the hills tonight
can quite include me in their fear.
What does remains invisible, is lost
in curt societies whose deaths become
revenge by morning, and whose homes
are nothing more than all they pity most.
Nabokov Vladimir 1899-1977
Speak, Memory
The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.
NEHRU Jawaharlal 1889-1964
(following Gandhi's assassination)
The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere.
Newman John Henry, Cardinal 1801-1890
‘Lead, kindly Light'
Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home.
Pope Alexander 1688-1744
‘Epitah: Intended for Sir Isaac Newton'
Nature, and Nature's laws lay hid in night.
God said, Let Newton be! And all was light.
Pound Ezra 1885-1972
Draft of XXX Cantos
In the gloom, the gold gathers the light against it.
Pound Ezra 1885-1972
Properly we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.
Quarles Francis 1592-1644
Emblems
Thou art my way; I wander, if thou fly;
Thou art my light; if hid, how blind am I!
Thou art my life; if thou withdraw, I die.
RAKOFF Aman Vivian
Communication is and should be hell fire and sparks as well as sweetness and light.
Rochester John Wilmot, Earl of 1647-1680
‘A Satire against Mankind'
Reason, an ignis fatuus of the mind,
Which leaves the light of nature, sense, behind.
Roethke Theodore 1908-1963
Deep in their roots,
All flowers keep the light.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
The Merchant of Venice
A light wife doth make a heavy husband.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
Othello
Put out the light, and then put out the light:
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore,
Should I repent me; but once put out thy light,
Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat
That can thy light relume.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
Romeo and Juliet
He jests at scars, that never felt a wound.
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
Venus and Adonis
Love is a spirit all compact of fire,
Not gross to sink, but light, and will aspire.
Sitwell Dame Edith 1887-1964
Façade ‘Aubade'
Jane, Jane,
Tall as a crane,
The morning light creaks down again.
Swift Jonathan 1667-1745
The Battle of the Books
Instead of dirt and poison we have rather chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax; thus furnishiping mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light.
Thomas Dylan 1914-1953
‘Light breaks where no sun shines'
Light breaks where no sun shines;
Where no sea runs, the waters of the heart
Push in their tides.
Vaughan Henry 1622-1695
Silex Scintillans „They are all gone"
They are all gone into the world of light,
And I alone sit lingering here;
Their very memory is fair and bright,
And my sad thoughts doth clear.
Vaughan Henry 1622-1695
Silex Scintillans „They are all gone"
I see them walking in an air of glory,
Whose light doth trample on my days.
Vaughan Henry 1622-1695
Silex Scintillans ‘The World'
I saw Eternity the other night,
Like a great ring of pure and endless light,
All calm, as it was bright.
Wavell Lord 1883-1950
(attributed)
(Love) is like a cigar. If it goes out, you can light it again but it never tastes quite the same.
Wordsworth William 1770-1850
‘Elegiac Stanzas' (on picture of Peele Castle)
The light that never was, on sea or land,
The consecration, and the Poet's dream.