better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- better to light one candle than to curse the darkness
- better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness
- better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
Etymology[edit]
Often claimed to be an ancient Chinese proverb. Also often misattributed to Eleanor Roosevelt.
Earliest known usage is a 1907 sermon by English preacher William Lonsdale Watkinson.[1][2]
Proverb[edit]
better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness
- Even in the face of hopelessness and discontent, it is more worthwhile to do some good, however small, in response, than to complain about the situation.
Translations[edit]
in bad times it is worthwhile to do good
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References[edit]
- ^ Watkinson, William Lonsdale (1907) “Sermon XIV: The Invincible Strategy, (Romans: xii, 21)”, in The Supreme Conquest and Other Sermons Preached in America by W. L. Watkinson[1], F. H. Revell Company, page 218
- ^ O'Toole, Garson (2017 March 19) “Better to Light a Candle Than to Curse the Darkness”, in Quote Investigator[2], retrieved 16 September 2022