Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, And the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by beingshared. ~Gautama Buddha
Candles are a traditional method of providing illumination, now superseded for most purposes by electric lightbulbs.
Tis nothing but a magic shadow-show, Played in a box whose candle is the sun. ~Edward FitzgeraldThe way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason: the morning daylight appears plainer when you put out your candle. ~Benjamin FranklinI believe that it is better to light one candle than to promise a million light bulbs. ~Stephen HarperMy candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But, ah, my foes, and, oh, my friends — It gives a lovely light. ~Edna St. Vincent Millay Every moment age is creeping up stealthily, but life, life is melting down like a candle that is flickering around. ~Suman PokhrelBell, book and candle shall not drive me back, When gold and silver becks me to come on. ~William ShakespeareWith all reverence, I would say, let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles. ~John Greenleaf Whittier, quoting or parhaphrasingAbraham Davenport
Alphabetized by author
All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.
Some say, that Signor Bononcini, Compared to Handel's a mere ninny; Others aver, to him, that Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle. Strange! that such high dispute should be 'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
John Byrom,On the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini.
They say rather than cursing the darkness, one should light a candle. They don't mention anything about cursing a lack of candles.
George Carlin,When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? (2004)
I wonder if that's the reason insects are so fond of flying into candles - because they want to turn into Snap-dragon-flies!
I am against an adjournment. The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause of an adjournment: if it is,I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought.
Abraham Davenport, in response to a call for adjourning the Connecticut State Council because of fears thatNew England's Dark Day might be a sign that theLast Judgment was approaching, as quoted byTimothy Dwight, inConnecticut Historical Collectons 2d ed (1836) compiled by John Warner Barber, p. 403.
'Tis nothing but a magic shadow-show, Played in a box whose candle is the sun
Edward Fitzgerald,The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1st ed, 1859), stanza 46.
The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason: the morning daylight appears plainer when you put out your candle.
Benjamin Franklin,Poor Richard's Almanack (1758), Chapter "On Virtue, Vice, God, And Faith".
I believe that it is better to light one candle than to promise a million light bulbs.
Stephen Harper, as quoted inThe New York Times (24 January 2006)
Then, she lit up a candle and she showed me the way.
He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
On the Coast of Coromandel Where the early pumpkins blow, In the middle of the woods Lived the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò. Two old chairs, and half a candle, One old jug without a handle, These were all his worldly goods
Edward Lear,The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò.
My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But, ah, my foes, and, oh, my friends — It gives a lovely light.
Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
The candle by which she had been reading the book filled with trouble and deceit, sorrow and evil, flared up with a brighter light, illuminating for her everything that before had been enshrouded in darkness, flickered, grew dim, and went out forever.
Leo Tolstoy trans. Rosemary Edmonds,Anna Karenina, part 7, chapter 31.
A single candle can lit a thousand candles without losing anything. [...] Let us be like those shining candles [...] benefitting allsentient beings.
Denunciatory rhetoric is so much easier and cheaper than good works, and proves a popular temptation. Yet it is far better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
William Lonsdale Watkinson, "The Invincible Strategy" inThe Supreme Conquest and Other Sermons (1907)
"This well may be The Day of Judgment which the world awaits; But be it so or not, I only know My present duty, and my Lord's command To occupy till He come. So at the post Where He hath set me in His providence, I choose, for one, to meet Him face to face, — No faithless servant frightened from my task, But ready when the Lord of the harvest calls; And therefore, with all reverence, I would say, Let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles." And they brought them in.
