Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o clock is a scoundrel.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
One summer night, out on a flat headland, all but surrounded by the waters of the bay, the horizons were remote and distant rims on the edge of space. Millions of stars blazed in darkness, and on the far shore a few lights burned in cottages. Otherwise there was no reminder of human life. My companion and I were alone with the stars: the misty river of the Milky Way flowing across the sky, the patterns of the constellations standing out bright and clear, a blazing planet low on the horizon. It occurred to me that if this were a sight that could be seen only once in a century, this little headland would be thronged with spectators. But it can be seen many scores of nights in any year, and so the lights burned in the cottages and the inhabitants probably gave not a thought to the beauty overhead; and because they could see it almost any night, perhaps they never will.
—Rachel Carson (1907–64) American Naturalist, Science Writer
Darkness has divinity for me; it strikes thought inward; it drives back the soul to settle on herself, our point supreme! There lies our theater; there sits our judge. Darkness the curtain drops o’er life’s dull scene; ’tis the kind hand of Providence stretched out ‘twixt man and vanity: ’tis reason’s reign, and virtue’s too; these tutelary shades are man’s asylum from the tainted throng. Night is the good man’s friend, and guardian too; it no less rescues virtue, than inspires.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Night, the mother of fear and mystery, was coming upon me.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas.
—J. K. Rowling (b.1965) English Novelist
Night is a dead monotonous period under a roof; but in the open world it passes lightly, with its stars and dews and perfumes, and the hours are marked by changes in the face of Nature. What seems a kind of temporal death to people choked between walls and curtains, is only a light and living slumber to the man who sleeps afield.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
The night is a skin pulled over the head of day that the day may be in torment.
—Djuna Barnes (1892–1982) American Writer, Artist
Thank Heaven, the sun has gone in, and I don’t have to go out and enjoy it.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
The night is made for tenderness so still that the low whisper, scarcely audible, is heard like music, and so deeply pure that the fond thought is chastened as it springs and on the lip is made holy.
—Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–67) American Poet, Playwright, Essayist
Press close bare-bosomed night—press close magnetic nourishing night! Night of south winds! night of the large few stars! Still nodding night! mad naked summer night.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Earth, turning from the sun, brings night to man.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
We wake in the night, to stereophonic silence.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
The day is for honest men, the night for thieves.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.
—Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-American Novelist
Why does the evening, why does the night, put warmer love in our hearts?—Is it the nightly pressure of helplessness?—Or is it the exalting separation from the turmoils of life, that veiling of the world in which, for the soul, nothing remains but souls?
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Philosopher
Most glorious night!
Thou wert not sent for slumber!
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Night is the other half of life, and the better half.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
I love night more than day—she is so lovely; But I love night the most because she brings My love to me in dreams which scarcely lie.
—Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) English Poet
Under thy mantle black, there hidden lie, light-shunning theft, and traitorous intent, abhorred bloodshed, and vile felony, shameful deceit, and danger imminent, foul horror, and eke hellish dreriment.
—Edmund Spenser (1552–99) English Poet
Twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star.
—Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) Canadian Novelist
In the country the darkness of night is friendly and familiar, but in a city, with its blaze of lights, it is unnatural, hostile and menacing. It is like a monstrous vulture that hovers, biding its time.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
O comfort-killing night, image of hell, dim register and notary of shame, black stage for tragedies and murders fell, vast sin-concealing chaos, nurse of blame!
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Live life so completely that when death comes to you like a thief in the night, there will be nothing left for him to steal.
—Indian Proverb
One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-American Philosopher, Poet, Sculptor
For the night shows stars and women in a better light.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Night is a world lit by itself.
—Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet
Shadow owes its birth to light.
—John Gay (1685–1732) English Poet, Dramatist
For the happiest life, rigorously plan your days, leave your nights open to chance.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Night is the blotting paper for many sorrows.
—Indian Proverb
Leave a Reply