by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The creative soul
Is immersed in the wellspring of the light of the Teaching.
We may not stop its flow,
Filled with joy and holy happiness,
Not for any bitter complaint or obstacle in the world.
The entire world isn’t worth
A single instant of superior creativity
That comes from the holy wellspring.
This stream of elevated life that pours in a single soul
Raises up the entire world.
     Shemonah Kevatzim 4:29

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The more that our human language is enriched,
And literature uses its power to reveal everything hidden,
The most covered thoughts of the soul,
And the most complex and dim images and visions,
Whoever has the power has the obligation
To raise the curtains from the most exalted thoughts
Through which the image of man is uplifted up so that he will perform his function.
More,
The whole development of the literary ability of speech and description
Will lead to the prophetic promise
Of giving all nations a lip of truth,
Of them all calling out in the name of Hashem.
So we see in the flowering of literature
The shining light of the messiah in the world.
And the flowering of the development of speech
Is revealed in everything,
Secular and holy,
Impure and pure.
     Shemonah Kevatzim I: 176

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Even when the body is broken and crushed
And the spirit is stunned and is wounded
By many pains, spiritual and physical,
The spiritual pleasure doesn’t stop
Giving its honey and flowing sweetness,
That soothes and gives deep delight
To the soul in the midst of its darkness….
     Shemonah Kevatzim 5:111

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Really, truly imagine 
What your soul is showing you
Make your spirit’s understanding 
Something real,
Do not express anything false.
From these sparks
Torches of fire will gather together
And they will light up the whole world
With their splendor.
From these kinds of parts of inner truth
The big truth will appear
     Orot Hakodesh 1, p 166

​by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Every authentic creation
Alway comes 
From two places at the same time:
From the noble high source
In the root of the soul
In the secret treasury of its power,
And from the source of the material character
In the darkness of its feelings. 
These abysses call to each other 
Without interruption.
And when their lines meet,
A light of life,
A light of being,
A light of wisdom,
A light of song,
A light of existence
Emerges and flashes.
And the indigo, the sea, the sky and the sapphire
Unite in the splendid beauty of their revelation
For the joy of the redeemed,
Who will come to Zion with singing and joy forever.
     Shemonah Kevatzim 8:252

​by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The intelligent eye
Sees life spreading in all being,
In its wholeness and it its details.
And it looks and it pays attention
To the rise and the fall of all of the details,
It unites with its mind the soul of the person,
His knowledge and the aspiring will with all being,
And the lowest, most constricted and most unconscious powers,
And it lifts its form up to the highest height.
Whatever touches him, far or near,
Is grasped by the inner point of his life.
When he eats,
When he drinks,
In all of his physical actions,
He recognizes the waves of life that pour from everything to him,
That want to be raised because of him and with him.
He loves everything,
He is compassionate, 
Filled with glory and mighty splendor,
He wants everything to rise.
And when it rises,
It clings with an inner clinging constantly,
With an elevated yearning,
That has no expression and idea,
Because it is greater than any thought,
It is more mighty than any name,
He makes all ethics and all justice and goodness a basis to this eternal yearning. 

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook
​
The commandment to cover one’s waste matter
Teaches us
That indeed
All descriptions of life are worthy of being expanded upon,
Even in stories and descriptions,
To expand a person’s awareness and spiritual delight
And to teach him about life
In all of its aspects
In a very clear way.
But the ugly aspects of life,
Whether naturally ugly
Or ugly in terms of human morality,
Must be covered.
“The wise cover shame.”
And those people who expand on [these] matters
In all of the details of life, including in the ugly ways,
Remove the Divine splendor from the hearts of those who see them and read them,
And violate the important warning,
“And your camp shall be holy and no unseemly matter will appear in you.”

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

From the comprehensive light
Of the spiritual, supernal way,
That does not have,
Because it is so high and supernal,
Metered ideas and clear thoughts,
Specific letters and structured matters,
But it has greatness and inner brilliance,
From it are enveloped in glory and beauty
The practical thoughts,
And they are filled with might and with power.
And the more they grow precisely detailed,
The more do they become good vessels
That contain the good light
Of the supernal holiness,
Which is hidden from all eyes.
     Shmonah Kevatzim 1:158

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The wonderful tzaddikim…
This world has so many borders, it is so low, it is so constricted,
That it means nothing to them…
They are the source of beauty and pattern in life.
The beauty of the world glows
It rises in its splendor
Because of the radiant flow of their souls.
All of the artists in the aesthetic professions
Rise up, are refined, are blessed, because of their influence.
     Orot Hakodesh 3, p. 306

Attain wisdom from holy men, who are called
The seed of truth. The seed of counsel descends

From their brains, it cooks in their kidneys, which give
Counsel, which cook the seed. Because they are holy,

Their counsel binds them to their students with truth.
And then, “Come and gaze from the mountain of faith!” 
     Likutei Halachot​