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Lamp Quotes

Light as a stand-in for hope, anger, and clarity of thought.

This lamp quotes collection shows how often writers reach for a burning lamp to explain something abstract, whether it is hope staying lit through hardship or anger snuffing out reason. The Tiffany lamp reference even ties the image to design history.

Hope is patience with the lamp lit.

Quotes by Tertullian

The Tiffany lamp is an American icon bridging the immigrants, settlement houses, and the slums of the Lower East Side and the wealthy industrialists of upper Manhattan, the Gilded Age and its excesses.

Quotes by Susan Vreeland

Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind.

Quotes by Robert Green Ingersoll

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.

Quotes by Patrick Henry

About Quotes

The lamp burns bright when wick and oil are clean.

Quotes by Ovid

An apt quotation is like a lamp which flings its light over the whole sentence.

Quotes by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it.

Quotes by George MacDonald

To me, lighting really sets the mood for a room. A 40 watt bulb in a cheap lamp is the same as a 40 watt bulb in an expensive one.

Quotes by Edward Walker

I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.

Quotes by David Ogilvy

Age Quotes

I have a bit of a lava lamp fetish. They are kind of hideous, but there is something so therapeutic about them.

Quotes by Bella Heathcote

He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts - for support rather than for illumination.

Quotes by Andrew Lang

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the common thread in the Lamp quotes?
Nearly every quote uses a lamp as a metaphor, whether for hope staying lit through hard times, an idea illuminating a whole sentence, or anger blowing out clear thinking.
Why do writers compare ideas to a lamp?
A lamp naturally suggests light cutting through darkness, which makes it an easy way to describe sudden clarity or understanding, as seen in the quote about an apt quotation flinging light over a sentence.
Is the Tiffany lamp quote out of place here?
It fits because it treats the lamp as a real historical object bridging different communities and eras, adding a factual, design-history angle alongside the more poetic entries.
What does the anger quote add to this collection?
It flips the usual meaning, showing a lamp being extinguished rather than lit, which represents losing clarity of mind rather than gaining it.
Where can I read more about that angle?
The Anger quotes page expands on how strong emotion is described as clouding judgment, building directly on the lamp-of-the-mind idea.

For more on the emotional side of these comparisons, see Anger quotes, and for the historical thread running through several entries here, check American quotes.