Discover wisdom on finding hope in darkness and embracing inner light through our curated selection of light and dark quotes.
Light and dark, two fundamental and opposing forces, have captivated the human imagination throughout history. These contrasting elements representing not only the external world but also the depths of the human experience.
In this collection of light and dark quotes, we delve into the rich symbolism and inherent wisdom that these opposing forces hold. These quotes offering insights into finding hope in the depths of darkness and embracing the radiance within.
Light and dark quotes invite us to contemplate the delicate balance between these forces in our lives. They encourage us to seek illumination in moments of obscurity, to find strength and resilience in the face of adversity.
Join us in this exploration of 100 light and dark quotes – and you will encounter a rich tapestry of perspectives on the interplay of these forces. Reflect the insight within these quotes to find meaning and balance in the delicate equilibrium between the two.
Inspirational light and dark quotes

Every light has its shadow, and every shadow hath a succeeding morning.
Nicolaus Copernicus
Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides.
Junichiro Tanizaki
Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.
Desiderius Erasmus
Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.
Helen Keller
In a spiral galaxy, the ratio of dark–to–light matter is about a factor of ten. That’s probably a good number for the ratio of our ignorance–to–knowledge. We’re out of kindergarten, but only in about third grade.
Vera Rubin
Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.
Brené Brown
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.
Marianne Williamson
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Yin and yang, male and female, strong and weak, rigid and tender, heaven and earth, light and darkness, thunder and lightning, cold and warmth, good and evil…the interplay of opposite principles constitutes the universe.
Confucius
Balance light and dark quotes

Life consists of two sides … light and dark. Joy and sorrow. Without a balance, one cannot fully experience a full and well–rounded life.
JoAnn Ross
Sundown– When the sun must make peace with the moon and for a few brief moments, the two touch in mutual friendship and respect. Perfect balance between the light and dark. A time for reflection and for preparation.
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Surrounded by darkness yet enfolded in light.
Alan Brennert
Throughout history, every period of enlightenment has been accompanied by darkness, pushing in opposition. Such are laws of nature and balance.
Dan Brown
I don’t personally see my work as being dark. What interests me is a balance between light and dark.
Carter Burwell
… We cannot fully respond to its consolations because we lack equilibrium between light and darkness.
Helen Keller
The ingredients of both darkness and light are equally present in all of us … The madness of this planet is largely a result of the human being’s difficulty in coming to viruous balance with himself.
Elizabeth Gilbert
Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.
Carl Jung
We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.
J. K. Rowling
The dark and the light, they exist side by side, sometimes overlapping, one explaining the other. The darkened path is as illuminated as the lightened, only the fear of the dark keeps us from seeing our way.
Raven Davies
Spiritual light and dark quotes

What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle.
Rumi
Be calm, be strong, be grateful, and become a lamp full of light, that the darkness of sorrows be annihilated, and that the sun of everlasting joy arise from the dawning–place of heart and soul, shining brightly.
Abdu’l–Bahá
Light must come from inside. You cannot ask the darkness to leave; you must turn on the light.
Sogyal Rinpoche
We all, everyone one of us, carry a star inside our chests. Light and darkness are always side–by–side. If you show even the slightest fear or tears to the darkness, it will immediately swell and come attacking, and swallow up the light.
Naoko Takeuchi
Spiritual Warriors is a terrific voyage. A memorable journey through the light and dark of our lives and ultimately to hope. I loved it.
Victor Salva
Serenity, in order to defeat the darkness and dark souls, you must keep the star inside your chest burning brightly at all times. That is your most important charge.
Naoko Takeuchi
For everything that God will bring into your life that represents the light, the devil–he’s such a sly fox–will come at you with two times more attributes of evil.
Billy Ray Cyrus
Where God is, there is no other. Where world is, there is no God. These two will never unite. Like light and darkness.
Swami Vivekananda
Just remember, a dark shadow need light to exist but light doesn’t need darkness to be luminous.
Gwen Hayes
When you realize no one else on this earth can be like you… that no other soul may know the beauty, sorrow, light and darkness you alone are given to see… then you will, at last, be the fearless individual your Heart of hearts has called you to be.
Guy Finley
Light and dark quotes short

The place where light and dark begin to touch is where miracles arise.
Robert A. Johnson
Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom, lead thou me on.
John Henry Newman
Dark clouds become heaven’s flowers when kissed by light.
Rabindranath Tagore
The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
Plato
Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.
Desmond Tutu
The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say.
Gregory Maguire
It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
Eleanor Roosevelt
I’m only running forward, lighting up the dark within.
Lee Felix
Beyond a doubt truth bears the same relation to falsehood as light to darkness.
Leonardo da Vinci
Light can devour the darkness but darkness cannot consume the light.
Ken Poirot
Light and darkness quotes

Your path is illuminated by the light, yet darkness lets the stars shine bright.
J.L.W. Brooks
There’s no point dwelling in the dark and ignoring the light of the stars.
Carrie Hope Fletcher
The light of day showed you the limits of possibility. But walk through the dark, the absolute, total darkness, and the possibilities were limitless.
Michael Grant
Once you conquer your selfish self, all your darkness will change to light.
Rumi
If there is always light, you don’t experience light anymore. You have to have the rhythm of light and darkness.
Bruce Lee
Peace and negativity cannot coexist just as light and darkness cannot coexist.
S. N. Goenka
Only the person who has experienced light and darkness, war and peace, rise and fall, only that person has truly experienced life.
Stefan Zweig
Fear can only grow in darkness. Once you face fear with light, you win.
Steve Maraboli
Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn’t as bright as it could be.
Rob Bell
You may be the only person left who believes in you, but it’s enough. It takes just one star to pierce a universe of darkness. Never give up.
Richelle E. Goodrich
Light and dark quotes for Instagram

The brighter the light, the deeper the shadow.
Jay Kristoff
In Light there is Dark, and in Dark there is Light.
Kami Garcia
When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow.
Ursula K. Le Guin
It is in the contrast of light and dark that design happens.
Helen Van Wyk
A gray day provides the best light.
Leonardo da Vinci
What makes night within us may leave stars.
Victor Hugo
Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.
Benjamin Franklin
Numb the dark and you numb the light.
Brené Brown
Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.
Walt Whitman
We must bring our own light to the darkness.
Charles Bukowski
Quotes about light and dark

To all who walk the dark path, and to those who walk in the sunshine but hold out a hand in the darkness to travel beside us: Brighter days are coming.
Jenny Lawson
We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future.
John F. Kennedy
The immediate facts are what we must relate to. Darkness and light, beginning and end.
Peter Wessel Zapffe
Darkness invites you to create a light show.
Shunya
To heal the ancient battle between darkness and light, we may find that it’s less about defeating one or the other, and more about choosing our relationship to both.
Gregg Braden
Light and shadow are opposite sides of the same coin. We can illuminate our paths or darken our way. It is a matter of choice.
Maya Angelou
There are no shadows in the dark. Shadows are the servants of light, the children of fire. The brightest flame casts the darkest shadows.
George R. R. Martin
Whenever you see darkness, there is extraordinary opportunity for the light to burn brighter.
Bono
Perhaps she was both child and woman, darkness and light, past and present, life and death – all the opposites contained and reconciled in her.
Paule Marshall
It is as if the smallest amount of light is infinitely more powerful than massive amounts of dark.
Rob Bell
Short light and dark quotes

It is often in the darkest skies that we see the brightest stars.
Richard Evans
To see a candle’s light one must take it into a dark place.
Ursula K. Le Guin
You can curse the darkness or light a candle. The choice is yours.
Patrick Kane
A candle loses nothing when it lights another candle.
Thomas Jefferson
The darkness declares the glory of light.
T. S. Eliot
Never fear shadows. They simply mean there’s a light shining somewhere nearby.
Ruth E. Renkel
The shadow is the greatest teacher for how to come to the light.
Ram Dass
No situation is so dark that there is not a ray of light!
Norman Vincent Peale
A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.
Steve Martin
Don’t fight darkness bring the light, and darkness will disappear.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Meaningful light and dark quotes
I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.
Og Mandino
Sometimes, a flame can be utterly extinguished. Sometimes, a flame can shrink and waver, but sometimes a flame refuses to go out. It flares up from the faintest ember to illuminate the darkness, to burn in spite of overwhelming odds.
Karen Hesse
All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.
Francis of Assisi
Put light against light – you have nothing. Put dark against dark – you have nothing. It’s the contrast of light and dark that each give the other one meaning.
Bob Ross
It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.
John Steinbeck
Shadow is the diminution alike of light and of darkness, and stands between darkness and light.
Leonardo da Vinci
Faith is a leap into the light, not a step into the darkness.
Reinhard Bonnke
Darkness will always try to extinguish the light. The light will always try to repress the darkness.
Morgan Rhodes
Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
Marianne Williamson
Light and dark quotes about life
Life evolved under conditions of light and darkness, light and then darkness.
Jessa Gamble
There comes a moment in every life when a choice must be made between right and wrong, between good and evil, between light and darkness. These decisions are made in an instant, but with repercussions that last a lifetime.
Jenna Jameson
We are all of us walking a razor’s edge between darkness and light.
Ichabod
Life is the coexistence of all opposite values. Joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, up and down, hot and cold, here and there, light and darkness, birth and death. All experience is by contrast, and one would be meaningless without the other.
Deepak Chopra
People are like stained – glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
Elisabeth Kubler–Ross
There are two kinds of light – the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.
James Thurber
I think that light and shadow have exactly the same duality that exists between life and death.
Manuel Alvarez Bravo
Each day of human life contains joy and anger, pain and pleasure, darkness and light, growth and decay. Each moment is etched with nature’s grand design–do not try to deny or oppose the cosmic order of things.
Morihei Ueshiba
No matter how dark and gloomy it looks in your life right now, if you’ll release the weight of those burdens, you will see the sun break forth.
Joel Osteen
In each of us lie good and bad, light and dark, art and pain, choice and regret, cruelty and sacrifice. We’re each of us our own chiaroscuro, our own bit of illusion fighting to emerge into something solid, something real.
Libba Bray
Final thoughts
Light and dark quotes encourage us to embrace the duality of existence, recognizing that both joy and sorrow. They remind us that in moments of darkness, there is the potential for growth, perseverance, and the discovery of inner light.
These quotes teach us that darkness isn’t merely the absence of light but often the canvas upon which the brightest stars emerge. Allow our selection of light and dark quotes become your ally to navigate life’s challenges.
Hope you have enjoyed this exploration of light and dark quotes, finding resonance and inspiration in the profound insights they offer. May we carry with us the understanding that both light and dark have their place in our lives, offering lessons and growth.
Thank you for joining us on this journey through light and dark quotes. Just as day follows night and dawn breaks after the darkest hour, remember that moments of brightness often emerge from periods of obscurity.