--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: All the metaphors in this world wouldn’t…" description: "\"“All the metaphors in this world wouldn’t scratch the surface of what stepping into darkness is like for me. And that’s just darkness. Don’t get me sta..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba4/glen-duncan-1307_darkness_all-the-metaphors-in-this-world-wouldn-t_1530316.png" --- # All the metaphors in this world wouldn’t scratch the… ![“All the metaphors in this world wouldn’t scratch the surface of what stepping into darkness is like for me. And that’s just darkness. Don’t get me started on light. Really, don’t get me started on light.” quote by Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba4/glen-duncan-1307_darkness_all-the-metaphors-in-this-world-wouldn-t_1530316.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba4/glen-duncan-1307_darkness_all-the-metaphors-in-this-world-wouldn-t_1530316.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba4/glen-duncan-1307_darkness_all-the-metaphors-in-this-world-wouldn-t_1530316.png) > ““All the metaphors in this world wouldn’t scratch the surface of what stepping into darkness is like for me. And that’s just darkness. Don’t get me started on light. Really, don’t get me started on light.”” [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker finds darkness incomprehensible, beyond any metaphor, and even light is beyond description. **In simple terms:** Darkness is indescribable, even light is hard to explain. Key Takeaway Accept that some experiences defy language. Themes existence language perception limits metaphor Mood conflicted introspective Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - grief - trauma - spiritual crisis - artistic expression Key Concepts subjectivity ineffability human experience Questions to Reflect On - How do you describe the indescribable? - What limits does language have? A Different Perspective Metaphors may fail but still help convey feeling. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Metaphors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphors/) ## Related quotes > [A metaphor is not an ornament. It is an organ of perception. Through metaphors, we see the world as one thing or another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-postman/a-metaphor-is-not-an-ornament-it-is-an-organ-of-perception-through/) [Neil Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-postman/) > [“I am afraid that it will all be ruined. It is like stepping out into the darkness when one has a world of light…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-balogh/i-am-afraid-that-it-will-all-be-ruined-it-is-like-stepping-out-into/) [Mary Balogh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-balogh/) > [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/) > [“But this time of the year she was in her vaults, underground, and here she resided alone, spending most of her life in darkness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-robinson/but-this-time-of-the-year-she-was-in-her-vaults-underground-and-here/) [Bruce Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-robinson/) > [“Phoebe lay rigid, staring into the darkness. It was often like this; she would go to sleep and then after an hour or two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-black/phoebe-lay-rigid-staring-into-the-darkness-it-was-often-like-this-she/) [Benjamin Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-black/) > [I don't like darkness in everything. I like my superheroes in primary colors, and fun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/genndy-tartakovsky/i-don-t-like-darkness-in-everything-i-like-my-superheroes-in-primary/) [Genndy Tartakovsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/genndy-tartakovsky/) > [“There is no darkness like that of a confined space. It's darker than the inside of eyelids, and darker than the night.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-destefano/there-is-no-darkness-like-that-of-a-confined-space-it-s-darker-than/) [Lauren DeStefano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-destefano/) > [Dark, dark! The horror of darkness, like a shroud, wraps me and bears me on through mist and cloud.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/dark-dark-the-horror-of-darkness-like-a-shroud-wraps-me-and-bears-me/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) > [I like their darkness but I also like the pop-side of the Velvet Underground.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-gore/i-like-their-darkness-but-i-also-like-the-pop-side-of-the-velvet/) [Martin Gore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-gore/) > [“The main thing I sense is...darkness." As soon as the words were out I realized how awful they sounded, so I rushed to clarify,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristen-day/the-main-thing-i-sense-is-darkness-as-soon-as-the-words-were-out-i/) [Kristen Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristen-day/) > [“All night, far above him the light stood guard, slicing the darkness like a sword.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-l-stedman/all-night-far-above-him-the-light-stood-guard-slicing-the-darkness/) [M.L. Stedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-l-stedman/) > [“Remember what I said when I led to Omar and the queen?" I bobbed my head, unable to look away from his jewel-like eyed,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kat-falls/remember-what-i-said-when-i-led-to-omar-and-the-queen-i-bobbed-my/) [Kat Falls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kat-falls/) > [Dramatically, I like darkness, I like conflict - but I don't see the world as defined by them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-arnold/dramatically-i-like-darkness-i-like-conflict-but-i-don-t-see-the/) [Andrea Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-arnold/) > [“The darkness like a demon or a dark elf chooses self-confident, creative and just snappy people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karin-johannisson/the-darkness-like-a-demon-or-a-dark-elf-chooses-self-confident/) [Karin Johannisson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karin-johannisson/) > [Most of us, myself included, have forgotten what real darkness is like. We live in a world where light is inescapable. It comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jake-halpern/most-of-us-myself-included-have-forgotten-what-real-darkness-is-like/) [Jake Halpern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jake-halpern/) ## More by Glen Duncan > [Nineteenth-century English literature I know; 19th-century sewage systems, not so much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/nineteenth-century-english-literature-i-know-19th-century-sewage/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [“For the longest time the romantic explanation for low rates of female infection endured: Possession of a womb, it was supposed, conferred a gentleness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/for-the-longest-time-the-romantic-explanation-for-low-rates-of-female/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [“The question 'What was there before creation?' is meaningless. Time is a property of creation, therefore before creation there was no before creation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/the-question-what-was-there-before-creation-is-meaningless-time-is-a/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [“The beauty spot by her lip was one of a dozen or so scattered over her body. My new constellations.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/the-beauty-spot-by-her-lip-was-one-of-a-dozen-or-so-scattered-over/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [Fairy tales read before bed tend to make me dream. They're all quite violent stories, as are my dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/fairy-tales-read-before-bed-tend-to-make-me-dream-they-re-all-quite/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [I don’t know where the universe came from or what happens to creatures when they die. I don’t know if the whole thing’s an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/i-don-t-know-where-the-universe-came-from-or-what-happens-to/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [In a fit of pique, I said to my agent, 'I'm going to write something you can sell.' The idea was to write a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/in-a-fit-of-pique-i-said-to-my-agent-i-m-going-to-write-something-you/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [“The Mortals are free, Lucifer. What they've done they've done from within themselves. - Raphael”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/the-mortals-are-free-lucifer-what-they-ve-done-they-ve-done-from/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [One day the ordinariness will be terminally punctuated by the extraordinary full stop of death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/one-day-the-ordinariness-will-be-terminally-punctuated-by-the/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [When I see gurgling retarded children (that's God's doing, by the way, not mine) happily styling their hair with their own stinking mards, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/when-i-see-gurgling-retarded-children-that-s-god-s-doing-by-the-way/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [“She understood the genre constraints, the decencies we were supposed to be observing. The morally cosy vision allows the embrace of monstrosity only as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/she-understood-the-genre-constraints-the-decencies-we-were-supposed/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [“Show us the world's not the way we thought it was and part of us rejoices.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/show-us-the-world-s-not-the-way-we-thought-it-was-and-part-of-us/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [“It’s just what you’re stuck with, the lousy furniture you can’t change. The educated me knows hell’s nothing, a fiction I happened to inherit.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/it-s-just-what-you-re-stuck-with-the-lousy-furniture-you-can-t-change/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [“Afterwards, sitting on my bunk, I cried. I read somewhere that when you’re a kid it’s people’s cruelty that makes you cry, then when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/afterwards-sitting-on-my-bunk-i-cried-i-read-somewhere-that-when-you/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [“The absurdity of it, she thought, this quest for the love of a man who was her equal. She loathed herself for it. She…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/the-absurdity-of-it-she-thought-this-quest-for-the-love-of-a-man-who/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) [Explore all 259 Glen Duncan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) ## 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": "“All the metaphors in this world wouldn’t scratch the surface of what stepping into darkness is like for me. And that’s just darkness. Don’t get me started on light. 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