“Sometimes it is easier to see the light when you stand partly in the darkness.”

Source: Skin Game

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), III Six books on Light and Shade

Cited in " 8 business quotes from First Bank Chairperson Ibukun Awosika http://enterprise54.com/insights-from-ibukun-awosika-to-help-entrepreneurs-in-their-businesses/", 26 February 2013

Source: Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior

Variant: It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
Source: Men at Arms: The Play

The Man With the Blue Guitar (1937)
Context: Throw away the lights, the definitions,
And say of what you see in the dark
That it is this or that it is that,
But do not use the rotted names.
Context: Throw away the lights, the definitions,
And say of what you see in the dark
That it is this or that it is that,
But do not use the rotted names.
How should you walk in that space and know
Nothing of the madness of space,
Nothing of its jocular procreations?
Throw the lights away. Nothing must stand
Between you and the shapes you take
When the crust of shape has been destroyed.

Source: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist