Night and Moon

To live a barren sister all your life, Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.

Forward, I pray, since we have come so far, And be it moon, or sun, or what you please. And if you please to call it a rush-candle, Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.

The kingdom of perpetual night.

The owl, night’s herald.

The gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful day Is crept into the bosom of the sea.

Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night!

Empty hills, no one in sight, only the sound of someone talking; late sunlight enters the deep wood, shining over the green moss again. 1

A single and distinct luminous body causes stronger relief in the objects than a diffused light; as may be seen by comparing one side of a landscape illuminated by the sun, and one overshadowed by clouds, and illuminated only by the diffused light of the atmosphere.

Men born in hot countries love the night because it refreshes them and have a horror of light because it burns them.

Shadow is the diminution alike of light and of darkness, and stands between darkness and light.

Darkness is absence of light. Shadow is diminution of light.

A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.