Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Light and shadow need each other to create balance or meaning.
In plain terms
Light needs shadow to exist meaningfully.
What can you take from it?
Accept balance between light and dark elements.

Where it applies

  • art
  • life philosophy

Putting it to work

  • seek balance
  • embrace contrast

Questions to consider

  • What shadows support your light?
  • Is balance always necessary?

Another view

Too much shadow can overwhelm light.

More from Virginia Woolf

  1. But to go deeper, beneath what people said (and these judgements, how superficial, how fragmentary they are!) in her own mind now, what did it mean to her, thi…

    Permalink to quote #8
  2. A sort of transaction went on between them, in which she was on one side, and life was on another, and she was always trying to get the better of it, as it was…

    Permalink to quote #10
  3. What she loved was this, here, now, in front of her; the fat lady in the cab. Did it matter then, she asked herself, walking towards Bond Street, did it matter…

    Permalink to quote #7

Related quotes

  1. That play of black upon white, white upon black, has the intent and takes the form of creative art. It has in it a flow of the spirit and a harmony of music. E…

    Yasunari KawabataYasunari Kawabata quote #1
  2. There is strong shadow where there is much light.

    Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe quote #1
  3. You get to the point where you can feel a certain sensation of light.

    Arthur DoveArthur Dove quote #2