“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”

— Francis of Assisi

Last update Nov. 25, 2023. History

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Francis of Assisi 49

Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan Order 1182–1226

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Variant: Light a candle instead of cursing the darkness.
Source: This is My Story

“St. John said, "And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not understand it, and cannot extinguish it ( I need the double meaning here of comprehend). This is the great cry of affirmation that is heard over and over again in our imaginative literature, in all art.”

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Section 3.13 
The Crosswicks Journal, A Circle of Quiet (1972)
Context: St. John said, "And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not understand it, and cannot extinguish it ( I need the double meaning here of comprehend). This is the great cry of affirmation that is heard over and over again in our imaginative literature, in all art. It is a light to lighten our darkness, to guide us, and we do not need to know, in the realm of provable fact, exactly where it is going to take us.

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“Darkness is drawn to light, but light does not know it; light must absorb the darkness and therefore meet its own extinguishment.”

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“A candle is enough to light the world.
It makes it clear. Even at noon
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At night, it lights the fruit and wine,
The book and bread, things as they are…”

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The Man With the Blue Guitar (1937)

“Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.”

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As quoted in 7 Laws of Human Nature: The Oneness of Universal Love (2017) by Conrad Spainhower and other self-help books and quotation sites.
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