Darkness Quotes

“I laugh, and it’s laughter, not light, that casts out the darkness building within me, that reminds me I am still alive, even in this strange place where
everything I’ve ever known is coming apart. I know some things—I know that I’m not alone, that I have friends, that I’m in love. I know where I came from. I know that I don’t want to die, and for me, that’s something—more than I could have said a few weeks ago.”
― Veronica Roth, Allegiant

“A farewell to my shadow is not my death; it’s my rebirth in darkness.”
― Munia Khan

“I used to read in books how our fathers persecuted mankind. But I never appreciated it. I did not really appreciate the infamies that have been committed in the name of religion, until I saw the iron arguments that Christians used. I saw the Thumbscrew—two little pieces of iron, armed on the inner surfaces with protuberances, to prevent their slipping; through each end a screw uniting the two pieces. And when some man denied the efficacy of baptism, or may be said, 'I do not believe that a fish ever swallowed a man to keep him from drowning,' then they put his thumb between these pieces of iron and in the name of love and universal forgiveness, began to screw these pieces together. When this was done most men said, 'I will recant.' Probably I should have done the same. Probably I would have said: 'Stop; I will admit anything that you wish; I will admit that there is one god or a million, one hell or a billion; suit yourselves; but stop.'

But there was now and then a man who would not swerve the breadth of a hair. There was now and then some sublime heart, willing to die for an intellectual conviction. Had it not been for such men, we would be savages to-night. Had it not been for a few brave, heroic souls in every age, we would have been cannibals, with pictures of wild beasts tattooed upon our flesh, dancing around some dried snake fetich.

Let us thank every good and noble man who stood so grandly, so proudly, in spite of opposition, of hatred and death, for what he believed to be the truth.

Heroism did not excite the respect of our fathers. The man who would not recant was not forgiven. They screwed the thumbscrews down to the last pang, and then threw their victim into some dungeon, where, in the throbbing silence and darkness, he might suffer the agonies of the fabled damned. This was done in the name of love—in the name of mercy, in the name of Christ.

I saw, too, what they called the Collar of Torture. Imagine a circle of iron, and on the inside a hundred points almost as sharp as needles. This argument was fastened about the throat of the sufferer. Then he could not walk, nor sit down, nor stir without the neck being punctured, by these points. In a little while the throat would begin to swell, and suffocation would end the agonies of that man. This man, it may be, had committed the crime of saying, with tears upon his cheeks, 'I do not believe that God, the father of us all, will damn to eternal perdition any of the children of men.'

I saw another instrument, called the Scavenger's Daughter. Think of a pair of shears with handles, not only where they now are, but at the points as well, and just above the pivot that unites the blades, a circle of iron. In the upper handles the hands would be placed; in the lower, the feet; and through the iron ring, at the centre, the head of the victim would be forced. In this condition, he would be thrown prone upon the earth, and the strain upon the muscles produced such agony that insanity would in pity end his pain.

I saw the Rack. This was a box like the bed of a wagon, with a windlass at each end, with levers, and ratchets to prevent slipping; over each windlass went chains; some were fastened to the ankles of the sufferer; others to his wrists. And then priests, clergymen, divines, saints, began turning these windlasses, and kept turning, until the ankles, the knees, the hips, the shoulders, the elbows, the wrists of the victim were all dislocated, and the sufferer was wet with the sweat of agony. And they had standing by a physician to feel his pulse. What for? To save his life? Yes. In mercy? No; simply that they might rack him once again.

This was done, remember, in the name of civilization; in the name of law and order; in the name of mercy; in the name of religion; in the name of Christ.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll, The Liberty Of Man, Woman And Child

“If you are still alive when you read this,
close your eyes. I am
under their lids, growing black.”
― Bill Knott

“Bertrand Russell had given a talk on the then new quantum mechanics, of whose wonders he was most appreciative. He spoke hard and earnestly in the New Lecture Hall. And when he was done, Professor Whitehead, who presided, thanked him for his efforts, and not least for 'leaving the vast darkness of the subject unobscured'.”
― J. Robert Oppenheimer, The Open Mind

“If you lead me astray, then my wanderings will bring me to my destination.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson

“but when a person’s so stuck in their own hole of darkness — it hurts like hell when someone shines a light on them. Your eyes have to adjust, and let’s just say it isn’t a pleasant experience; it’s why people stay there.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, Toxic

“I was lost in a void of perpetual darkness. Disconnected from myself. Turned inside out. No sign of life. Eventually, the darkness was my light and the void a haven – a quiet place where I could nurse my secret and lick my wounds.”
― B.G. Bowers, Death and Life

“Ah, children of the sunlight and the gaslight, how little you know of the world in which you live!”
― Ambrose Bierce, Can Such Things Be?

“I am not enough in myself; I can barely make it through buying milk and school supplies. Thank goodness there is a Guardian to come before me and throw off the dark.”
― Anna White, Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith

“Behind this smile in my face
Lies the dark shadow of emptiness
Hiding from your eyes within my gaze
Concealed with sham happiness.”
― Alexia Chase

“It dims the brightest spirit, to stare into the dark.”
― Julie E. Czerneda, A Turn of Light

“What did I fear, and why? — I, to whom the night had been

a more familiar face
than that of man —

I, in whom that element of hereditary superstition from which none of us is altogether free had given to solitude and darkness and silence only a more alluring interest and charm!”
― Ambrose Bierce, The Secret of Macarger's Gulch

“And now we come to the Heart of our Designe: the art of Shaddowes you must know well, Walter, and you must be instructed how to Cast them with due Care. It is only the Darknesse that can give trew Forme to our Work and trew Perspective to our Fabrick, for there is no Light without Darknesse and no Substance without Shaddowe (and I turn this Thought over in my Mind: what Life is there which is not a Portmanteau of Shaddowes and Chimeras?). I build in the Day to bring News of the Night and of Sorrowe, I continued, and then I broke off for Walter's sake.”
― Peter Ackroyd, Hawksmoor

“Whatever you do well in the darkness tells more about who you are than what you do best in light. Watch out!”
― Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes

“You'll become that devil overnight, if you want to become that celebrity overnight.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson

“Father, be near as we are surrounded by this cloud of deep suffering. Open our eyes to see that you are all things, the light and the darkness, not only those things that seem good in our eyes, but the horrifying unexplainable. Wrap us up inside of the cloud and reveal the mysteries that can only be learned in places of sorrow, that when we walk out we will be as Moses, transformed by the shadow and beaming with the radiant light of your glory. Give us the strength to love on, though our hearts are broken.”
― Anna White, Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith

“Darkness and anger, when combined, are their own master.”
― S. R. Ford

“Maybe in a way all living things are like flickering flames in a precarious night, always on the verge of being extinguished. Whether we kindle slowly but steadily, or go out in a brilliant burst of light and color, is our choice. Perhaps the most important choice we'll ever have.”
― Nenia Campbell, Bleeds My Desire

“The most amazing thing is that all my sorrows, all of my darkest moments, are becoming my gifts.”
― Anna White, Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith

“Are you afraid of the dark?” I asked.
“No. Monsters aren't real. This is real. I'm scared of what could happen when the lights go out.”
― Bryant A. Loney, Exodus in Confluence

“The shadow is dark and the woods are cold, but they are not endless. No matter how lost you are now, you are not lost forever. You are findable.

Love just keeps on looking.

Love is forever tries.”
― Anna White, Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith

“In this week I see such a picture of life, hard and joyful pressed up together and sleeping in the same bed. They come knit together. The lines of pain run through the joy and remind us to go all in, because life is short. The joy edges the pain and gives us a reason to rise.”
― Anna White, Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith

“Fears hide within fears....”
― Jacqueline Ripstein

“Hell in life indicates a state of suffering, of agony, of torture (by others, by circumstances, or by ourselves), and of insipid colors and little joy. Hell is a heavy vibration that drags us spiraling down from the highest to the lowest, darkest vibrations..”
― Jacqueline Ripstein, The Art of HealingArt: The Keys to Power and Awareness

“Dreams in your life are like light bulbs that brighten your room. But having them on the ceiling is just not enough; you got to make an effort by pressing on the switch and there it goes taking away the darkness!”
― Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes

“Love lights our darkness. It is forever tries.”
― Anna White, Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith

“Darkness can always visit us; when it comes, we shall light a candle to welcome it!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“I do not worry about the beauty of the world, neither do I care, but it is all dark and dirty when you are not around.”
― M.F. Moonzajer, LOVE, HATRED AND MADNESS

“Live your life in such a way that when a video coverage is taken of you either in light or in the darkness, it can receive an applause when it is shown in your chapel for everyone to view!”
― Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes