“Why is this soe long detaind in a dark manuscript, that if printed would be a Light to the World, & a Universal Blessing?”

—  Thomas Traherne

Anonymous 17th century comment on the flyleaf of the Lambeth Manuscript of Traherne’s works; cited from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) vol. 55, p. 208.
Criticism

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Why is this soe long detaind in a dark manuscript, that if printed would be a Light to the World, & a Universal Blessin…" by Thomas Traherne?
Thomas Traherne photo
Thomas Traherne 16
English poet 1636–1674

Related quotes

“Why are the heavens not filled with light? Why is the universe plunged into darkness?”

Edward Robert Harrison (1919–2007) British astronomer

Darkness at Night: a Riddle of the Universe (1987), p. 1

William Cowper photo

“Transforms old print
To zigzag manuscript, and cheats the eyes
Of gallery critics by a thousand arts.”

William Cowper The Task

Source: The Task (1785), Book II, The Timepiece, Line 363.

Adlai Stevenson photo

“She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow has warmed the world.”

Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965) mid-20th-century Governor of Illinois and Ambassador to the UN

Remark upon learning of the death of Eleanor Roosevelt, drawing upon the motto of the Christopher Society: "It is better to light one candle than curse the darkness." ; quoted in The New York Times (8 November 1962)

Paul Simon photo

“If the answer is infinite light,
Why do we sleep in the dark?”

Paul Simon (1941) American musician, songwriter and producer

How Can You Live In The Northeast?
Song lyrics, Surprise (2006)

Stephen King photo

“If you're going into a very dark place, then you should take a bright light, and shine it on everything. If you don't want to see, why in God's name would you dare the dark at all?”

Stephen King book Full Dark, No Stars

Source: Full Dark, No Stars

Ikkyu photo

“Yesterday's clarity is today's stupidity
The universe has dark and light, entrust oneself to change”

Ikkyu (1394–1481) Japanese Buddhist monk

As quoted in Ikkyū and The Crazy Cloud Anthology : A Zen Poet of Medieval Japan (1986) by Sonja Arntzen.
Context: Natural, reckless, correct skill;
Yesterday's clarity is today's stupidity
The universe has dark and light, entrust oneself to change
One time, shade the eyes and gaze afar at the road of heaven.

Kurt Vonnegut photo

“I was on par with the Creator of the Universe there in the dark in the cocktail lounge. I shrunk the Universe to a ball exactly one light-year in diameter.”

Kurt Vonnegut book Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast of Champions (1973)
Context: I was on par with the Creator of the Universe there in the dark in the cocktail lounge. I shrunk the Universe to a ball exactly one light-year in diameter. I had it explode. I had it disperse itself again.
Ask me a question, any question. How old is the Universe? It is one half-second old, but the half-second has lasted one quintillion years so far. Who created it? Nobody created it. It has always been here.
What is time? It is a serpent which eats its tail, like this:
This is the snake which uncoiled itself long enough to offer Eve the apple, which looked like this:
What was the apple which Eve and Adam ate? It was the Creator of the Universe.
And so on.
Symbols can be so beautiful, sometimes.

“Why is it only in darkness that we remember what sustained us even in the light?”

Francine Rivers book A Voice in the Wind

Source: A Voice in the Wind

“There will always be people like me, who believe that to ripple the pages of a printed book is a special experience, one that through the centuries has taken millions from the darkness into the light.”

Quintin Jardine (1945) Scottish writer

From Quintin Jardine’s blog, ‘The Kindle threat’, September 29, 2010.

Related topics