“I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow,
the million moving shapes and cul-de-sacs of shadow.
There was shadow in bureau drawers and closets and suitcases,
and shadow under houses and trees and stones,
and shadow at the back of people's eyes and smiles,
and shadow, miles and miles and miles of it,
on the night side of the earth.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
“There is strong shadow where there is much light.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Götz von Berlichingen
"We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows,
the light and the darkness,
that one thing against another creates…
Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty."
--- Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows
“Some there be that shadow kiss;
Such have but a shadow's bliss.”
― William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice
“How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow?
I must have a dark side also If I am to be whole”
― C.G. Jung
“To contemplate is to look at shadows.”
― Victor Hugo
“Come back.
Even as a shadow, even as a dream.”
― Euripides
“Wherever there is light, look for the shadow. The shadow is me.”
― Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934
"Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn
Indicative that suns go down;
The notice to the startled grass
That darkness is about to pass."
--- Emily Dickinson