“One should, when overwhelmed by the shadow of a giant, move aside and see if the colossal shadow isn't merely that of a pygmy blocking out the sun.”
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Novalis 102
German poet and writer 1772–1801Related quotes
“A shadow never sees the sun.”
Ron English's Fauxlosophy: Volume 2 (2022)
“you are my sun, and if the sun went out, the shadow would die.”
“Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.”
Variant: Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. It's what the sunflowers do.
“The rules when the giants play are the same as when the pygmies enter the market.”
Dissenting, Scherk v. Alberto-Culver Co., 417 U.S. 506, 526 (1974)
Judicial opinions
Source: Beatrice & Virgil (2010), p. 103
Context: To my mind, faith is like being in the sun. When you are in the sun, can you avoid creating a shadow? Can you shake that area of darkness that clings to you, always shaped like you, as if constantly to remind you of yourself? You can't. This shadow is doubt. And it goes wherever you go as long as you stay in the sun. And who wouldn't want to be in the sun?
“Loss and Possession, Death and Life are one.
There falls no shadow where there shines no sun.”
"On the Same" (On a Sundial III)
Quoted by Kevin Smith's character in the film Catch and Release (2006)
Sonnets and Verse (1938)
“When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.”
As quoted in Hard-to-Solve Cryptograms (2001) by Derrick Niederman, p. 96