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Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light.
- True blue
- Then went Moses and Aaron, Nadab ad Abihu and the seventy elders of Israel uppe, and sawe the God of Israel, and under his fete as it were a brycke worke of Saphir and as it were the facyon of heaven when is it cleare,
- Book of Exodus 24:9–11 (TYN)
- Then went up Moses, and Aaron, and Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the very heaven for clearness.
- Book of Exodus 24:9–11 (KJV)
- Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.
- Book of Exodus 24:9–11 (NIV)
- [Blue is the colour of the heavens—that is, blue is the colour of the abode of God]
- And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
- Book of Ezekiel 1:26 (KJV)
- Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.
- Book of Ezekiel 1:26 (NIV)
- [Within Truth dwells the amber of unity and the divine Spirit]
- Speake unto the childern of Ysrael and byd them that they make them gardes apon the quarters of their garmetes thorowout their generacions and let them make the gardes of ribandes of jacyncte ... that ye remembre and doo all my commaundmentes and be holy unto youre God.
- Book of Numbers 15.38 (TYN)
- Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments, throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: ... that ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.
- Book of Numbers 15.38 (KJV)
- Speak to the Israelites and say to them: Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. ... Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God.
- Book of Numbers 15.38 (NIV)
- [God commands Moses]
- Sapphire produces peace of mind and equanimity. It chases out evil thoughts by establishing healthy circulation. It opens barred doors to the spirit. It produces a desire for prayer. It brings peace, but he who would wear it must lead a pure and holy life.
- Buddhist saying, quoted by Ellen Conroy, The Symbolism of Colour (1921), p. 29
- More lovely than the monarch of the sky
In wanton Arethusa’s azur’d arms;- Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Scene 13
- Her blue-veined feet unsandal’d were;
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel, Part I
- Blue! ’Tis the life of heaven,—the domain
Of Cynthia,—the wide palace of the sun,—
The tent of Hesperus, and all his train,—
The bosom of clouds, gold, gray, and dun.
Blue! ’Tis the life of waters—ocean
And all its vassal streams: pools numberless
May rage, and foam, and fret, but never can
Subside, if not to dark-blue nativeness.
Blue! Gentle cousin of the forest-green,
Married to green in all the sweetest flowers—
Forget-me-not,—the blue-bell,—and, that queen
Of secrecy, the violet: what strange powers
Hast thou, as a mere shadow! But how great,
When in an Eye thou art alive with fate!- John Keats, Answer to a Sonnet Ending Thus—
"Dark eyes are dearer far
Than those that made the hyacinthine bell."
By J. H. Reynolds.
- John Keats, Answer to a Sonnet Ending Thus—
- You see the broad blue sky every day over your heads; but you do not for that reason determine blue to be less or more beautiful than you did at first; you are unaccustomed to see stones as blue as the sapphire, but you do not for that reason think the sapphire less beautiful than other stones. The blue colour is everlastingly appointed by the Deity to be a source of delight; and whether seen perpetually over your head, or crystallised once in a thousand years into a single and incomparable stone, your acknowledgment of its beauty is equally natural, simple, and instantaneous.
- John Ruskin, Lectures on Architecture and Painting, Delivered at Edinburgh in November 1853
- The Complete Works of John Ruskin, Vol. 3 (New York & Chicago: National Library Association), p. 10
- His azure glowed as a cloud worn thin,
Deep as the blue of the king-whale’s lair:- George Walter Thornbury, "The Court Historian"
- Historical & Legendary Ballads & Songs (1875)
- A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;
- Christina Rossetti, "Jewels", Sing-Song (1893)
- Skies from her eyes catch their heavenly blue.
- Anonymous, "Borne on the Blue Ægean", c. 1900
- T. R. Smith, ed., Poetica Erotica (1921), p. 627
- Mad maidens, tender as blue seas.
- Aleister Crowley, "The Altar of Artemis", The Soul of Osiris (1901)
- Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow
Across that angry or that glimmering sea.- James Elroy Flecker, Hassan (1922), Act 5, Scene 2
- There is no blue without yellow and without orange, and if you put in blue, then you must put in yellow, and orange too, mustn't you?
- Vincent van Gogh, Letter to Émile Bernard (June 1888), in Van Gogh's Letters
- The sapphire-misted mountains,
- Dorothea Mackellar, "Core of My Heart" (1908); "My Country" (1911)
- In the spectrum we ought to be able to recognise both blue and indigo, though many people find difficulty in recognising the indigo ray. Blue belongs to the cooling end of the spectrum, and thus it is right and fitting that symbolically it should be the colour of Truth, which is the result of calm reflection and never of heated argument.
- Ellen Conroy, The Symbolism of Colour (1921), p. 27
Nizami Ganjavi, Haft Peykar
- Nizami. Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance. Translated by Julie Scott Meisami (Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 174
- One Wednesday when the blooming sun,
Suffused with blue the sphere’s black dome,
The King, victorious as the sun,
Bright sky-like robes of turquoise donned,
Went to the turquoise dome for sport;
The tale was long, the day was short.- 36. The Turquoise Dome
- Peter J. Chelkowski, Mirror of the Invisible World: Tales from the Khamseh of Nizami (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975), p. 95
- Wednesday it was, the day of Mercury; the heavens were as clear and as blue and as smooth as a lake; not a cloud was to be seen. And in blue robes the king did dress himself and hastened forth, toward the turquoise pavilion. Swifter was he even than Mercury, as he thought eagerly upon the pleasures that awaited him there. “So sweet was my fourth bride, can the fifth be even sweeter?” he asked.The birds that soared against the azure sky sang out, “Yes, yes, oh king!” For in the turquoise pavilion was the princess Azarene, the daughter of the king of Maghreb. She was dressed in blue, from her headdress to her slippers, and she had adorned herself with many rings and bracelets set with turquoise, and all about, in bowls glazed blue, delicate blue flowers put their blossoms forth. But bluer than the flowers were the princess’ eyes. All that day Bahram Gur gazed into her eyes and lost himself in their blue depths, until, at last, night came, and one by one the stars appeared.
- The Turquoise Pavilion
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