Night Thoughts
“Darkness has more divinity for me;
It strikes thought inward; it drives back the soul
To settle on herself, our point supreme!”
—Edward Young, from Night Thoughts, quoted by Marjorie Hope Nicolson in Newton Demands the Muse, 1946.
the Organ that beholds it
“The Sun’s Light when he unfolds it
Depends on the Organ that beholds it.”
—William Blake, from What is Man?, quoted by Marjorie Hope Nicolson in Newton Demands the Muse, 1946.
God is Colouring
“That God is Colouring Newton does shew,
And the devil is Black outline, all of us know.”
—William Blake, from To Venetian Artists, quoted by Marjorie Hope Nicolson in Newton Demands the Muse, 1946.
the stars
“And God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.”
—The Bible, as quoted by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr in The Sirens of Titan, 1959.
Mercury sings like a crystal goblet
“The planet Mercury sings like a crystal goblet.
One side of Mercury faces the Sun. That side has always faced the Sun. That side is a sea of white-hot dust.
The other side faces the nothingness of space eternal. That side has always faced the nothingness of space eternal. That side is a forest of giant blue-white crystals, aching cold.
It is the tension between the hot hemisphere of day-without-end and the cold hemisphere of night-without-end that makes Mercury sing.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, from The Sirens of Titan, 1959.
Saint Elmo’s fire
“Saint Elmo’s fire is a luminous electrical discharge, and any creature afflicted by it is subject to discomfort no worse than the discomfort of being tickled by a feather. All the same, the creature appears to be on fire, and can be forgiven for being dismayed.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, from The Sirens of Titan, 1959.
the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent
“‘The name of the new religion,’ said Rumfoord, is the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent.
‘The flag of that church will be blue and gold,’ said Rumfoord. ‘These words will be written on that flag in gold letters on a blue field: Take Care of the People, and God Almighty Will Take Care of Himself.’”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, from The Sirens of Titan, 1959.
a riddle
“There is a riddle about a man who is locked in a room with nothing but a bed and a calendar, and the question is: How does he survive?
The answer is: He eats dates from the calendar and drinks water from the springs of the bed.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, from The Sirens of Titan, 1959.
His Wig
“His Wig was as black and smooth as the plumes of a Raven, and hung as strait as the hair of a River-God rising from the water.”
—The Scriblerus Club (John Arbuthnot, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, John Gay, Thomas Parnell and Robert Harley), from the fictitious and fanciful Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, 1723.
the Palpability of Colours
“He it was, that first found out the Palpability of Colours; and by the delicacy of his Touch, could distinguish the different vibrations of the heterogeneous Rays of Light.”
—The Scriblerus Club (John Arbuthnot, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, John Gay, Thomas Parnell and Robert Harley), Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, 1723.