Allegory Quotes

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
― St. Augustine

“Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.”
― Cormac McCarthy, The Road

“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss,
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger:
But O, what damnèd minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!”
― William Shakespeare, Othello

“I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history – true or feigned– with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“What does Éloa mean?”

He narrowed his gaze, answered her literally. “It’s the name of an angel.”

Penelope tilted her head, thinking. “I’ve never heard of him.”

“You wouldn’t have.”

“Was he a fallen angel?”

“She was, yes.” He hesitated, not wanting to tell her the story, but unable to stop himself. “Lucifer tricked her into falling from heaven.”

“Tricked her how?”

He met her gaze. “She fell in love with him.”

Penelope’s eyes widened. “Did he love her?”

Like an addict loves his addiction. “The only way he knew how.”

She shook her head. “How could he trick her?”

“He never told her his name.”
― Sarah MacLean, A Rogue by Any Other Name

“A man inherited a field in which was an accumulation of old stone, part of an older hall. Of the old stone some had already been used in building the house in which he actually lived, not far from the old house of his fathers. Of the rest he took some and built a tower. But his friends coming perceived at once (without troubling to climb the steps) that these stones had formerly belonged to a more ancient building. So they pushed the tower over, with no little labour, and in order to look for hidden carvings and inscriptions, or to discover whence the man's distant forefathers had obtained their building material. Some suspecting a deposit of coal under the soil began to dig for it, and forgot even the stones. They all said: 'This tower is most interesting.' But they also said (after pushing it over): 'What a muddle it is in!' And even the man's own descendants, who might have been expected to consider what he had been about, were heard to murmur: 'He is such an odd fellow! Imagine using these old stones just to build a nonsensical tower! Why did not he restore the old house? he had no sense of proportion.' But from the top of that tower the man had been able to look out upon the sea.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, Beowulf and the Critics

“When I opened my eyes I saw nothing but the pool of nocturnal sky, for I was lying on my back with out-stretched arms, face to face with that hatchery of stars. Only half awake, still unaware that those depths were sky, having no roof between those depths and me, no branches to screen them, no root to cling to, I was seized with vertigo and felt myself as if flung forth and plunging downward like a diver.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand and Stars

“All my means are sane, my motive and my object mad.”
― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or, The Whale

“I could end this with a moral,
as if this were a fable about animals,
though no fables are really about animals.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Tent

“If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing. A writer who appreciates the seriousness of writing so little that he is anxious to make people see he is formally educated, cultured or well-bred is merely a popinjay. And this too remember; a serious writer is not to be confounded with a solemn writer. A serious writer may be a hawk or a buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl.”
― Ernest Hemingway

“On this material plane, each living being is like a street lantern lamp with a dirty lampshade.

The inside flame burns evenly and is of the same quality as all the rest—hence all of us are equal in the absolute sense, the essence, in the quality of our energy.

However, some of the lamps are “turned down” and having less light in them, burn fainter, (the beings have a less defined individuality, are less in tune with the universal All which is the same as the Will)—hence all of us are unequal in a relative sense, some of us being more aware (human beings), and others being less aware (animal beings), with small wills and small flames.

The lampshades of all are stained with the clutter of the material reality or the physical world.

As a result, it is difficult for the light of each lamp to shine through to the outside and it is also difficult to see what is on the other side of the lampshade that represents the external world (a great thick muddy ocean of fog), and hence to “feel” a connection with the other lantern lamps (other beings).

The lampshade is the physical body immersed in the ocean of the material world, and the limiting host of senses that it comes with.

The dirt of the lampshade results from the cluttering bulk of life experience accumulated without a specific goal or purpose.

The dirtier the lampshade, the less connection each soul has to the rest of the universe—and this includes its sense of connection to other beings, its sense of dual presence in the material world and the metaphysical world, and the thin connection line to the wick of fuel or the flow of electricity that resides beyond the material plane and is the universal energy.

To remain “lit” each lantern lamp must tap into the universal Source of energy.

If the link is weak, depression and-or illness sets in.

If the link is strong, life persists.

This metaphor to me best illustrates the universe.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“I was the only boy in our school what had asthma," said the fat boy with a touch of pride. "And I've been wearing specs since I was three.”
― William Golding, Barron's Book Notes: Lord of the Flies

“The two things that came out clearly were the sense of reality in the background and the mythical value: the essence of myth being that it should have no taint of allegory to the maker and yet should suggest incipient allegories to the reader.
[C.S. Lewis writes to J.R.R. Tolkien on December 7, 1929]”
― C.S. Lewis

“At this the duchess, laughing all the while, said: "Sancho Panza is right in all he has said, and will be right in all he shall say...”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

“a thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer then the truth”
― Leah Wilson, The Girl Who Was on Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games Trilogy

“Twelve dead?” I said. “Jesus.”
― Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War

“I follow suit, said the lion,
vacating his coat of arms
and movie logos; and the eagle said,
Get me off this flag.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Tent

“On the Day of Judgment , life and death are not determined by the world but by God's wisdom and law”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress

“I loved you first," He whispers. His words have a slight strain in them as if He felt my pain or was carrying it for me. "I will never leave you or forsake you.”
― Karynn Heckler, Eye of the Storm

“Long before there was ever a King James Version of our Bible, there was a gospel truth...and long before doctrines and denominations, the preeminence of the gospel was already ripe to harvest. Before man had ever thought about creating symbols to represent spiritual things...there was a gospel.”
― Chandel L. White, Romans to Jude - Precise Christian Scripture Revealed

“The Man met her gaze, almost as if He had heard her thoughts. “The Mist is not merely a physical darkness. It is an evil that infects the very soul, like an illness would the body.” He gave her a warm smile, His eyes piercing through her own soul. “I have come for those who are sick and desperate for healing. The world is ill with the greatest of diseases, and I am the Great Physician.”
― Lucy Peterson, When the Stars Shine Again

“Surprisingly few tussles occurred over the falling food. ... Only Push the puffer and Hammy the parrotfish regularly stole more than their fair share. But they argued that as they were bigger than the others, they deserved more.

“Plus,” Push said, “and I don’t mean to be indelicate here, but some of you eat our ordure. Thus if we get more, you get more.”

“Let’s face it,” added Hammy, wanting to add to Push’s words, “that is the way the world works.”
― Scott Bischke, FISH TANK: A Fable for Our Times

“On joining the aquarium community we all agreed to put aside our carnivorous ways to live off Professor Brown’s fish food. Every one of us agreed!

If we start to eat each other, what kind of life would that be?”
― Scott Bischke, FISH TANK: A Fable for Our Times

“What about what Doc said?" asked Big Moe. "If we turn up the temperature it might hurt some of the fishes."

"Collateral damage," said Sarin. "Nothing more. I tell you what, Big Moe, we'll turn it up slowly and the fish won't even notice.”
― Scott Bischke, FISH TANK: A Fable for Our Times

“Doesn't matter what I think or how I feel," said Doc Hansom. "Just go look at the thermometer mounted on the aquarium glass. That will give you your answer."

Hansom went back to his inspections, leaving Tommy Tang to wonder why he had not thought of such a simple answer.”
― Scott Bischke, FISH TANK: A Fable for Our Times

“Initially, only the crabs demurred. "It's not hot in here," Sarin said acidly. "Nothing has changed. You're all imagining things.”
― Scott Bischke, FISH TANK: A Fable for Our Times

“What Roop says is correct. That thermometer hasn’t worked in years.” Sanger paused, looking around for Hansom before continuing.

Not seeing the goatfish, he proceeded confidently, “Actually, I daresay my own studies have found the instrument to be so imprecise that it is my professional opinion that the temperature is just as likely to be going down as to be going up!”
― Scott Bischke, FISH TANK: A Fable for Our Times

“Oh my God!” exclaimed Jessie the turtle, who alone immediately saw what the good doctor would say next.

“And I am sad to say, my friends," concluded Doc Hansom the goatfish, "if the caulking seal breaks before the professor returns, the aquarium will likely drain and we will all die.”
― Scott Bischke, FISH TANK: A Fable for Our Times

“It may be," Doc Hansom the goatfish concluded, "that it is already too late.”
― Scott Bischke, FISH TANK: A Fable for Our Times

“And these explanations of the sacred scriptures are delivered by mystic expressions in allegories, for the whole of the law appears to these men to resemble a living animal, and its express commandments seem to be the body, and the invisible meaning concealed under and lying beneath the plain words resembles the soul, in which the rational soul begins most excellently to contemplate what belongs to itself, as in a mirror, beholding in these very words the exceeding beauty of the sentiments, and unfolding and explaining the symbols, and bringing the secret meaning naked to the light to all who are able by the light of a slight intimation to perceive what is unseen by what is visible.”
― Philo of Alexandria, The Works of Philo