“If you visit the Front don’t forget to come up the line at night to watch the German rockets. They have white crests which throw a pale flame across no-man’s-land. It is like the end of a beautiful world.”

Finds haunting beauty within a landscape created by war · Letter to Edward Marsh, 1 July 1917

• Beauty
• Light
• War

“Hope is the light that guides us through the darkest nights.”

Original: Håpet er lyset som reileder oss gjennom de mørkeste netter. — Describes hope as an indispensable beacon during adversity · Address (Norwegian)

• Hope
• Light

“It is midnight now and the glow-worms are out. It is quiet in camp but the far night is loud with our guns bombarding the positions we must soon fight for.”

Places natural tranquillity beside the approaching violence of battle · Letter to Katharine Tynan, 20 July 1917

• Light
• Nature
• War

“In total darkness, even a tiny spark becomes a sun.”

Original: In völliger Dunkelheit wird selbst ein winziger Funke zur Sonne. — Captures the disproportionate impact of hope in dark times · Notebook entry, c. 1913 (German)

• Consolation
• Hope
• Light

“Memory is the quiet light that shines through decay.”

Original: Die Erinnerung ist das stille Licht, das durch den Verfall leuchtet. — Finds a lingering solace in memory amidst surrounding ruin · Notebook fragment, c. 1914 (German)

• Light
• Memory
• Time

“It has often been the case that whoever brought light and warmth to others had to freeze themselves.”

Original: Det har ofte vært slik her i landet at den som bar lys og varme til andre, selv har måttet fryse. — Reflects sympathetically on the isolation and sacrifice often endured by visionaries · Address to students (Norwegian)

• Light
• Sacrifice
• Service

“The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.”

Affirming the lasting power of knowledge and intellectual awakening · The Age of Reason

• Knowledge
• Learning
• Light

“In every small act of kindness, a seed of light is planted in the world.”

Original: I enhver liten godgjerning sås et frø av lys i verden. — Affirms the far-reaching impact of everyday gentle actions · Letter (Norwegian)

• Kindness
• Light

“How strange it is that light only makes the shadows visible.”

Original: Wie seltsam ist es doch, dass das Licht die Schatten erst sichtbar macht. — Observes the duality between clarity and gloom · Notebook fragment, c. 1912 (German)

• Dualism
• Light
• Perception

“Man is a shadow's dream. Yet when a ray of sunshine comes given by God, a bright light rests on men and life is sweet.”

Original: Ἐπάμεροι· τί δέ τις; τί δ’ οὔ τις; σκιᾶς ὄναρ ἄνθρωπος. ἀλλ’ ὅταν αἴγλα διόσδοτος ἔλθῃ, λαμπρὸν φέγγος ἔπεστιν ἀνδρῶν καὶ μείλιχος αἰών. — Contemplates fragile human existence elevated by rare moments of divine grace. · Pythian Odes, VIII.95-97 (Greek)

• Grace
• Light
• Mortality

“We are more inclined to create darkness than to bring forth light. The weary years and black nights are our creations; the dawn, the light and the day belong to God.”

Original: Yr ydym ni yn fwy tueddol i greu tywyllwch na gwawrio goleuni, y cyfnodau, a'r tymhorau, a'r blynyddau blinion, a'r nosweithiau duon yw'n creadigaethau ni; Duw biau'r wawr, a'r goleuni, a'r dydd! — Contrasting humanity's darkness with the renewing light he attributes to God · Sermon, Sul y Blodau, 31 March 1903 (Welsh)

• Faith
• Hope
• Light