Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English (1972)
Context: The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name;
this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.
“All is mystery; but he is a slave who will not struggle to penetrate the dark veil.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Part 5, Chapter 18.
Books, Coningsby (1844), Contarini Fleming (1832)
“Within him, there's awful darkness, in the darkness a small boy.”
Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012) Polish writer
"A Film from the Sixties"
Poems New and Collected (1998), No End of Fun (1967)
Context: Within him, there's awful darkness, in the darkness a small boy. God of humor, do something about him, OK?
God of humor, do something about him today.
“Your heart is like the ocean, mysterious and dark.”
Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
“How terrible this darkness was, how bewildering, and yet mysteriously beautiful!”
Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) Austrian writer
Source: The Burning Secret and other stories
Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist
Source: A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel (1982), Chapter 38, And So Time Passes
Context: Time. Particles of darkness configured mysterious patterns on my retina. Patterns that degenerated without a sound, only to be replaced by new patterns. Darkness but darkness alone was shifting, like mercury in motionless space. I put a stop to my thoughts and let time pass. Let time carry me along. Carry me to where a new darkness was configuring yet newer patterns.
“The light within the darkness- you've lost sight of it.”
Shiro Amano (1976) Japanese manga artist
Source: Kingdom Hearts, Vol. 1
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Attributed to Russell in Ken Davis' Fire Up Your Life! (1995), p. 33
Attributed from posthumous publications
“This source is called darkness.
Darkness born from darkness.
The beginning of all understanding.”
Laozi book Tao Te Ching
Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, as translated by J.H.McDonald (1996) http://www.wright-house.com/religions/taoism/tao-te-ching.html [Public domain translation] <br class="br">Context: The tao that can be described<br>is not the eternal Tao.<br>The name that can be spoken<br>is not the eternal Name.<br>The nameless is the boundary of Heaven and Earth.<br>The named is the mother of creation.<br>Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery.<br>By having desire, you can only see what is visibly real.<br>Yet mystery and reality<br>emerge from the same source.<br>This source is called darkness.<br>Darkness born from darkness.<br>The beginning of all understanding.
