--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We dreamt of light, but hoped for darkness." description: "\"“We dreamt of light, but hoped for darkness.”\" — Aleksandar Hemon" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/295/aleksandar-hemon-1490_darkness_we-dreamt-of-light-but-hoped-for-darknes_1963827.jpg" --- # We dreamt of light, but hoped for darkness. ![“We dreamt of light, but hoped for darkness.” quote by Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/295/aleksandar-hemon-1490_darkness_we-dreamt-of-light-but-hoped-for-darknes_1963827.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/295/aleksandar-hemon-1490_darkness_we-dreamt-of-light-but-hoped-for-darknes_1963827.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/295/aleksandar-hemon-1490_darkness_we-dreamt-of-light-but-hoped-for-darknes_1963827.jpg) > ““We dreamt of light, but hoped for darkness.”” [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A yearning for illumination coexists with a desire for the unknown, reflecting inner conflict between aspiration and comfort. **In simple terms:** Wanting light yet craving darkness. Key Takeaway Embrace both hope and fear. Themes conflict aspiration comfort Mood melancholic contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - creative writing - personal reflection - artistic expression Key Concepts existentialism dualism Questions to Reflect On - What does darkness represent for you? - How do you reconcile hope with fear? A Different Perspective Balancing optimism with realism can be challenging. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) ## Related quotes > [“He wondered if that was her version of a green light. He hoped it was. If he thought she would believe him, he'd tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-leighton/he-wondered-if-that-was-her-version-of-a-green-light-he-hoped-it-was/) [M. Leighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-leighton/) > [“They must be taking ships and then getting close enough to swim through the reef without attracting attention. We need to get a closer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-j-maas/they-must-be-taking-ships-and-then-getting-close-enough-to-swim/) [Sarah J. Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-j-maas/) > [“Last night you dreamt of a room - a room full of fish, and a swimming pool where you waded knee-deep and hauled them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/talvikki-ansel/last-night-you-dreamt-of-a-room-a-room-full-of-fish-and-a-swimming/) Talvikki Ansel > [“I have dreamt of a life you will never know; the life of a loving and caring companion. I simply thought you should know.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-findley/i-have-dreamt-of-a-life-you-will-never-know-the-life-of-a-loving-and/) [Timothy Findley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-findley/) > [“I dreamt-' he began, and stopped short. It was too complex to be put into words. There was the dream itself, and there was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/i-dreamt-he-began-and-stopped-short-it-was-too-complex-to-be-put-into/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [I don't want there to be this separation between the rich and poor. I may be part of the three percent because I've been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlon-wayans/i-don-t-want-there-to-be-this-separation-between-the-rich-and-poor-i/) [Marlon Wayans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlon-wayans/) > [I've always dreamt of having some sort of undercover job. I think it's probably the coolest thing in the world, but ultimately a very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rashida-jones/i-ve-always-dreamt-of-having-some-sort-of-undercover-job-i-think-it-s/) [Rashida Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rashida-jones/) > [“Instead I dreamt of walking out of the world, of spending all my time inside with no one to talk to, and no one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwidge-danticat/instead-i-dreamt-of-walking-out-of-the-world-of-spending-all-my-time/) [Edwidge Danticat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwidge-danticat/) > [I don't think I could have dreamt it up any better than how things went, of being at my peak at just the right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rickey-henderson/i-don-t-think-i-could-have-dreamt-it-up-any-better-than-how-things/) [Rickey Henderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rickey-henderson/) > [I dreamt of being like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho Gaucho.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neymar/i-dreamt-of-being-like-ronaldo-ronaldinho-gaucho/) [Neymar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neymar/) > [“I dreamt about you last night. Fell out of bed twice”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelagh-delaney/i-dreamt-about-you-last-night-fell-out-of-bed-twice/) [Shelagh Delaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelagh-delaney/) > [When I was six, all I dreamt about was becoming a diver on Jacques Cousteau's boat, the famous Calypso.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enric-sala/when-i-was-six-all-i-dreamt-about-was-becoming-a-diver-on-jacques/) [Enric Sala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enric-sala/) > [I dreamt I was the president. Living in a tent, but when I woke up this morning I was thrown out for not paying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurel-aitken/i-dreamt-i-was-the-president-living-in-a-tent-but-when-i-woke-up-this/) [Laurel Aitken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurel-aitken/) > [“Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt - marvellous error! - that I had a beehive here inside my heart. And the golden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-machado/last-night-as-i-was-sleeping-i-dreamt-marvellous-error-that-i-had-a/) [Antonio Machado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-machado/) > [When other boys dreamt of going to the moon or becoming doctors, I wanted to be a designer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivier-theyskens/when-other-boys-dreamt-of-going-to-the-moon-or-becoming-doctors-i/) [Olivier Theyskens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivier-theyskens/) ## More by Aleksandar Hemon > [Even if you tried to extinguish your personality, what is left in the story will reflect it, perhaps by its negation. Our lives provide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/even-if-you-tried-to-extinguish-your-personality-what-is-left-in-the/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [To me there's no difference between a book of stories and a novel - they're just slightly different shapes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/to-me-there-s-no-difference-between-a-book-of-stories-and-a-novel/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [Lord, why did you leave me in these woods?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/lord-why-did-you-leave-me-in-these-woods/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [I want to change something. I want to stop the germs from attacking my daughters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/i-want-to-change-something-i-want-to-stop-the-germs-from-attacking-my/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [Cliché activates the comfortable mental laziness, we sort of revert to the domain of the already-familiar, what we have already imagined so that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/clich-activates-the-comfortable-mental-laziness-we-sort-of-revert-to/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [“The writer does not dare dream of giving the best of his individuality. No, he must never express his anger. The vacillating demands of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/the-writer-does-not-dare-dream-of-giving-the-best-of-his/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [I know a lot of people in the city, at all levels, horizontally and vertically - and that to me is a privilege, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/i-know-a-lot-of-people-in-the-city-at-all-levels-horizontally-and/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [What fiction and art can do, particularly narrative art, is construct consciousness - in a sense, we have to do it for the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/what-fiction-and-art-can-do-particularly-narrative-art-is-construct/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [I read everything I could find in English - Twain, Henry James, Hemingway, really everything. And then after a while I started writing shorter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/i-read-everything-i-could-find-in-english-twain-henry-james-hemingway/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [It was always clear to me that I would have to earn my readers, some I would have to find, some to create.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/it-was-always-clear-to-me-that-i-would-have-to-earn-my-readers-some-i/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [I never thought of myself as an outsider. Because outside of what? You would have to give advantage to this space where you're not,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/i-never-thought-of-myself-as-an-outsider-because-outside-of-what-you/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [There are studies that have shown that we make decisions, ethical and otherwise, based on the way we imagine ourselves as characters in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/there-are-studies-that-have-shown-that-we-make-decisions-ethical-and/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [I long for, not a writer's retreat - I can write in any situation - but a reader's retreat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/i-long-for-not-a-writer-s-retreat-i-can-write-in-any-situation-but-a/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [I much preferred winning to thinking and I didn't like losing at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/i-much-preferred-winning-to-thinking-and-i-didn-t-like-losing-at-all/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [Memory narrativises itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/memory-narrativises-itself/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) [Explore all 236 Aleksandar Hemon quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) ## More Darkness quotes > [“Narrative cannot sustain formlessness any more than light can sustain darkness - it is the antithesis of formlessness, and so it can never truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/narrative-cannot-sustain-formlessness-any-more-than-light-can-sustain/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“Wait here, wait here!" he cried and jumped up and began to run for help toward a cluster of lights he saw in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/wait-here-wait-here-he-cried-and-jumped-up-and-began-to-run-for-help/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Strange - is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/strange-is-it-not-that-of-the-myriads-who-before-us-passed-the-door/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [When you're scared - and I mean really scared, not just hearing a noise in the night, or standing toe to toe with someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-gordon-smith/when-you-re-scared-and-i-mean-really-scared-not-just-hearing-a-noise/) [Alexander Gordon Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-gordon-smith/) > [Clear moments are so short. There is much more darkness. More ocean than terra firma. More shadow than form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-zagajewski/clear-moments-are-so-short-there-is-much-more-darkness-more-ocean/) [Adam Zagajewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-zagajewski/) > [I even see the cinema itself as a woman, with its alternation of light and darkness, of appearing and disappearing images](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-fellini/i-even-see-the-cinema-itself-as-a-woman-with-its-alternation-of-light/) [Federico Fellini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-fellini/) > [I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-guess-he-ll-have-to-figure-out-someday-that-he-is-supposed-to-have/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/) [anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-beauty-of-darkness-is-how-it-lets-you-see/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“Even in darkness your lips taste of sunshine”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francesca-lia-block/even-in-darkness-your-lips-taste-of-sunshine/) [Francesca Lia Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francesca-lia-block/) > [“Defy me not for gleam can only shine in my existence" said Darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/defy-me-not-for-gleam-can-only-shine-in-my-existence-said-darkness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“What does he look like? The question was soft- tentative. I knew who he meant. I interlaced my fingers through Rhysand's and squeezed tightly.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-j-maas/what-does-he-look-like-the-question-was-soft-tentative-i-knew-who-he/) [Sarah J. Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-j-maas/) > [The dream of coming back is becoming a reality. A lot of the uncertainty about the future has been cleared up. A lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tagliabue/the-dream-of-coming-back-is-becoming-a-reality-a-lot-of-the/) [Paul Tagliabue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tagliabue/) > [“Life is like coffee, the darker it gets, the more it energizes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ankita-singhal/life-is-like-coffee-the-darker-it-gets-the-more-it-energizes/) [Ankita Singhal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ankita-singhal/) > [Twinking tears in a sea of black. Soft light in a world of darkness. Tiny wishes in a place of dreams. Do you see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-gentile/twinking-tears-in-a-sea-of-black-soft-light-in-a-world-of-darkness/) Nicole Gentile [Browse all 8,219 Darkness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We dreamt of light, but hoped for darkness.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Aleksandar Hemon" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/we-dreamt-of-light-but-hoped-for-darkness/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Darkness" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/we-dreamt-of-light-but-hoped-for-darkness/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/295/aleksandar-hemon-1490_darkness_we-dreamt-of-light-but-hoped-for-darknes_1963827.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/295/aleksandar-hemon-1490_darkness_we-dreamt-of-light-but-hoped-for-darknes_1963827.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/295/aleksandar-hemon-1490_darkness_we-dreamt-of-light-but-hoped-for-darknes_1963827.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We dreamt of light, but hoped for darkness.” — Aleksandar Hemon", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Aleksandar Hemon", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“We dreamt of light, but hoped...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/we-dreamt-of-light-but-hoped-for-darkness/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/we-dreamt-of-light-but-hoped-for-darkness/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```