At Day's Close Quotes

“Nyx, born of Chaos in Greek mythology, was the goddess of “all-subduing” night who, in the Iliad, makes even Zeus tremble.”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“In 1737, a Connecticut husband—perchance while snoring—received from his wife a shovel of hot embers in his gaping mouth,”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“Night knew no bounds. Goethe, on a moonlit evening in Naples, was “overwhelmed by a feeling of infinite space.”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“Let the night teach us what we are, and the day what we should be. THOMAS TRYON, 16911 T”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“Increasingly, rather than render nighttime more accessible, we are instead risking its gradual elimination. Already, the heavens, our age-old source of awe and wonder, have been obscured by the glare of outdoor lighting. Only in remote spots can one still glimpse the grandeur of the Milky Way. Entire constellations have disappeared from sight, replaced by a blank sky. Conversely, the fanciful world of our dreams has grown more distant with the loss of segmented sleep and, with it, a better understanding of our inner selves. Certainly, it is not difficult to imagine a time when night, for all practical purposes, will have become day—truly a twenty-four/seven society in which traditional phases of time, from morning to midnight, have lost their original identities. ........... The residual beauty of the night sky, alternating cycles of darkness and light, and regular respites from the daily round of sights and sounds—all will be impaired by enhanced illumination. Ecological systems, with their own patterns of nocturnal life, will suffer immeasurably. With darkness diminished, opportunities for privacy, intimacy, and self-reflection will grow more scarce. Should that luminous day arrive, we stand to lose a vital element of our humanity—one as precious as it is timeless. That, in the depths of a dark night, should be a bracing prospect for any spent soul to contemplate.”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“The day counts on labor; the night counts on thinking. Clamor is useful for the first; silence for the second.”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“Indeed, it was the conviction of some divines that God created night as proof of hell’s existence.”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“When thy neighbours house is on fire, by its light thou mayest see thine own danger,”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“In all likelihood, the nightwatch, not prostitution, is the world’s most ancient profession, originating as soon as men and women first feared the darkness.”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“Altered, too, was the relative importance of nocturnal dreams. No longer did most sleepers experience an interval of wakefulness in which to ponder visions in the dead of night. With the transition to a new pattern of slumber, at once consolidated and more compressed, increasing numbers lost touch with their dreams and, as a consequence, a traditional avenue to their deepest emotions. It is no small irony that, by turning night into day, modern technology has helped to obstruct our oldest path to the human psyche. That, very likely, has been the greatest loss, to paraphrase an early poet, of having been “disannulled of our first sleep, and cheated of our dreams and fantasies.”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“Lacking a pot, Pepys “shit in the chimney” twice one night, whereas the Yorkshire laborer Abram Ingham used his “clogg” [shoe] to “make water in.” If all else failed, an Italian adage instructed, “You may piss a bed, and say you sweated.”38”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“Within well-educated households, the critical transition from reading aloud to silent reading occurred during the fifteenth century. In time, other readers would master this liberating technique. Revolutionary in scope, silent reading let individuals scrutinize books with ease and speed. No less important, it allowed them to explore texts in isolation, apart from friends and family, or masters. Reading became vastly more personal, as more people pondered books and formed ideas on their own.”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“And with the range of earshot extended at night, preindustrial sounds represented the aural equivalent of landmarks.43 Overtaken by darkness on an unfamiliar road outside the Scottish town of Paisley, a set of travelers “proceeded with great caution and deliberation, frequently stopping to look forward and listen.” Where wind and rain, by their sounds, could help to reveal the contours of a landscape, familiar noises afforded welcome wayposts. The “clattering” of their horses’ hooves told visitors to Freiburg that they were entering “a large pavd town.” Bleating ewes and bellowing bulls provided bearings, as did tolling church bells.”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

“For people steeped in biblical wonders and supernatural lore, alterations in the night sky, including the aurora borealis in northern latitudes, carried even greater portent.”
― A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: A History of Nighttime