"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."
"Overhead hung a summer sky furrowed with the rush of rockets; and from the east a late moon, pushing up beyond the lofty bend of the coast, sent across the bay a shaft of brightness which paled to ashes in the red glitter of the illuminated boats."
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Source: Edith Wharton (2015). “The House of Mirth”, p.188, Xist Publishing
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"The desire for symmetry, for balance, for rhythm in form as well as in sound, is one of the most inveterate of human instincts."
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