Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 8, The Hermit (Edwin and Angelina), st. 1.
“Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,
Adorns and cheers our way;
And still, as darker grows the night,
Emits a brighter ray.”
Act II.
The Captivity, An Oratorio (1764)
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Do you have more details about the quote "Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,
Adorns and cheers our way;
And still, as darker grows the night,
Emits a brig…" by Oliver Goldsmith?
Oliver Goldsmith 134
Irish physician and writer 1728–1774Related quotes
Source: Dandelion Wine (1957), pp. 235-236
“This is our mission: to cast a ray of light and pass on.”
Maria Montessori
(1870–1952) Italian pedagogue, philosopher and physician
Source: The Discovery of the Child (1948), Ch. 8 : The Exercises, p. 141
Variant translation:
This then is the first duty of an educator: to stir up life but leave it free to develop.
Context: This is our mission: to cast a ray of light and pass on. I compare the effects of these first lessons the impressions of a solitary wanderer who is walking serene and happy in a shady grove, meditating; that is leaving his inner thought free to wander. Suddenly a church bell pealing out nearby recalls to himself; then he feels more keenly that peaceful bliss which had already been born, though dormant, within him.
To stimulate life, leaving it free, however, to unfold itself, that is the first duty of the educator.
For such a delicate mission great art is required to suggest the right moment and to limit intervention, last one should disturb or lead astray rather than help the soul which is coming to life and which will live by virtue of it's own efforts.
This art must accompany the scientific method, because the simplicity of our lessons bears a great resemblance to experiments in experimental psychology.
“Thought is only a gleam in the midst of a long night. But it is this gleam which is everything”
Source: The Value of Science (1905), Ch. 11: Science and Reality
Context: All that is not thought is pure nothingness; since we can think only thought and all the words we use to speak of things can express only thoughts, to say there is something other than thought, is therefore an affirmation which can have no meaning.
And yet—strange contradiction for those who believe in time—geologic history shows us that life is only a short episode between two eternities of death, and that, even in this episode, conscious thought has lasted and will last only a moment. Thought is only a gleam in the midst of a long night. But it is this gleam which is everything.<!--p.142