“The power is ours to make or mar
Our fate as on the earliest morn,
The Darkness and the Radiance are
Creatures within the spirit born.
Yet, bathed in gloom too long, we might
Forget how we imagined light.
Not yet are fixed the prison bars:
The hidden light the spirit owns
If blown to flame would dim the stars
And they who rule them from their thrones:
And the proud sceptred spirits thence
Would bow to pay us reverence.”
By Still Waters (1906)
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George William Russell134
Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, and artistic painter 1867–1935Related quotes
Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer
Section 1 : The Meaning of Life
Life and Destiny (1913)
“And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Tales of a Wayside Inn
Pt. I, The Landlord's Tale: Paul Revere's Ride, st. 8.
Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863-1874)
Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet
The Renaissance in India (1918)
George William Russell (1867–1935) Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, and artistic painter
The Nuts of Knowledge (1903)
Og Mandino book The Greatest Salesman in the World
Source: The Greatest Salesman in the World (1968), Ch. 9 : The Scroll Marked II, p. 59.
Context: Henceforth I will look upon all things with love and I will be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness because it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness because it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards because they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles because they are my challenge.
I will greet this day with love in my heart.
Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer
Founding Address (1876)
Context: The world is dark around us and the prospect seems deepening in gloom. and yet there is light ahead. On the volume of the past in starry characters it is written — the starry legend greets us shining through the misty vistas of the future — that the great and noble shall not perish from among the sons of men, that the truth will triumph in the end, and that even the humblest of her servants may in this become the instrument of unending good. We are aiding in laying the foundations of a mighty edifice, whose completion shall not be seen in our day, no, nor in centuries upon centuries after us. But happy are we, indeed, if we can contribute even the least towards so high a consummation. The time calls for action. Up, then, and let us do our part faithfully and well. And oh, friends, our children's children will hold our memories dearer for the work which we begin this hour.
“The spirit of Poesy is the morning light, which makes the Statue of Memnon sound.”
Novalis (1772–1801) German poet and writer
Novalis (1829)
Henry S. Haskins (1875–1957)
Source: Meditations in Wall Street (1940), p. 80