Source: The Demon-Haunted World : Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995), Ch. 2 : Science and Hope
Context: I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us-then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls. The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir.
“Carry a candle in the dark, be a candle in the dark, know that you're a flame in the dark.”
“It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.”
Variant: Light a candle instead of cursing the darkness.
Source: This is My Story
“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”
“To see a candle’s light, one must take it into a dark place.”
Source: Earthsea Books, The Farthest Shore (1972), Chapter 9, "Orm Embar" (Sparrowhawk)
Books, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? (2004)
