Wind

"A boy's will is the wind's will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

"Of all the forces of nature, I should think the wind contains the largest amount of motive power—that is, power to move things. Take any given space of the earth's surface— for instance, Illinois; and all the power exerted by all the men, and beasts, and running-water, and steam, over and upon it, shall not equal the one hundredth part of what is exerted by the blowing of the wind over and upon the same space. And yet it has not, so far in the world's history, become proportionably valuable as a motive power. It is applied extensively, and advantageously, to sail-vessels in navigation. Add to this a few windmills, and pumps, and you have about all. … As yet, the wind is an untamed, and unharnessed force; and quite possibly one of the greatest discoveries hereafter to be made, will be the taming, and harnessing of it."

"How long can men thrive between walls of brick, walking on asphalt pavements, breathing the fumes of coal and of oil, growing, working, dying, with hardly a thought of wind, and sky, and fields of grain, seeing only machine-made beauty, the mineral-like quality of life. This is our modern danger — one of the waxen wings of flight. It may cause our civilization to fall unless we act quickly to counteract it, unless we realize that human character is more important than efficiency, that education consists of more than the mere accumulation of knowledge."

"It is sunlight in modified form which turns all the windmills and water wheels and the machinery which they drive. It is the energy derived from coal and petroleum (fossil sunlight) which propels our steam and gas engines, our locomotives and automobiles. ... Food is simply sunlight in cold storage."

"Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro — And what should they know of England who only England know?"

"There is something peculiarly mournful in the sound of the autumn wind. It has none of the fierce mirth which belongs to that of March, calling aloud, as with the voice of a trumpet, on all earth to rejoice ; neither has it the mild rainy melody of summer, when the lily has given its softness and the rose its sweetness to the gentle tones. Still less has it the dreary moan, the cry as of one in pain, which is borne on a November blast ; but it has a music of its own — sad, low, and plaintive, like the last echoes of a forsaken lute — a voice of weeping, but tender and subdued, like the pleasant tears shed over some woful romance of the olden time, telling some mournful chance of the young knight falling in his first battle, or of a maiden pale and perishing with ill-requited love."

"I came like Water, and like Wind I go."

"For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind…"

"I find that the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it— but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor."

""Tomorrow, go forth and stand before the Lord. A great and strong wind will blow over you and rend the mountains and break in pieces the rocks, but the Lord will not be in the wind. And after the wind and earthquake, but the Lord will not be in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord will not be in the fire. And after the fire a gentle, cooling breeze. That is where the Lord will be." This is how the spirit comes. After the gale, the earthquake, and fire: a gentle, cooling breeze. This is how it will come in our own day as well. We are passing through the period of earthquake, the fire is approaching, and eventually (when? after how many generations?) the gentle, cool breeze will blow."

"To a crazy ship all winds are contrary."

"La nuit n'était pas très obscure; c'était une pleine lune sur laquelle couraient de larges nuées chassées par le vent. Cela faisait au dehors des alternatives d'ombre et de clarté, des éclipses, puis des éclaircies, et au dedans une sorte de crépuscule. Ce crépuscule, suffisant pour qu'on pût se guider, intermittent à cause des nuages, ressemblait à l'espèce de lividité qui tombe d'un soupirail de cave devant lequel vont et viennent des passants."

"There, like the wind through woods in riot,Through him the gale of life blew high;The tree of man was never quiet:Then 'twas the Roman, now 'tis I."

"L'absence diminue les médiocres passions, et augmente les grandes, comme le vent éteint les bougies et allume le feu."

"A little wind kindles, much puts out the fire."

"O that our souls could scale a height like this,A mighty mountain swept o'er by the bleakKeen winds of heaven; and, standing on that peakAbove the blinding clouds of prejudice,Would we could see all truly as it is;The calm eternal truth would keep us meek."

"The wind shrieks, the wind grieves; It dashes the leaves on walls, it whirls then again; And the enormous sleeper vaguely and stupidly dreams And desires to stir, to resist a ghost of pain."

"Love is like a wind stirring the grass beneath trees on a black night," he had said. "You must not try to be definite and sure about it and to live beneath the trees, where soft night winds blow, the long hot day of disappointment comes swiftly and the gritty dust from passing wagons gathers upon lips inflamed and made tender by kisses."

"We are the voices of the wandering wind,Which moan for rest and rest can never find;Lo! as the wind is, so is mortal life,A moan, a sigh, a sob, a storm, a strife."

"Nature, with equal mind,Sees all her sons at playSees man control the wind,The wind sweep man away."

"The hushed winds wail with feeble moan Like infant charity."

"Write as the wind blows and command all words like an army!"

"Therefore we should not try to alter circumstances but to adapt ourselves to them as they really are, just as sailors do. They don't try to change the winds or the sea but ensure that they are always ready to adapt themselves to conditions. In a flat calm they use the oars; with a following breeze they hoist full sail; in a head wind they shorten sail or heave to. Adapt yourself to circumstances in the same way."

"Mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau. Mock on, mock on—'tis all in vain! You throw the sand against the wind, And the wind blows it back again."

"There's the wind on the heath, brother; if I could only feel that, I would gladly live for ever."

"I didn't believe what I'd been hearing; maybe this wind blowing in just came from the ocean."

"Come in, dear wind, and be our guestYou too have neither home nor rest."

"There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge."

"And the wind will whip your tousled hair,The sun, the rain, the sweet despair,Great tales of love and strife.And somewhere on your path to gloryYou will write your story of a life."

"The oldOld winds that blewWhen chaos was, what doThey tell the clattered trees that IShould weep?"

"The rulers of the earth are sowing a fearful wind, to reap a most terrible whirlwind."

"[In Adelie Land, Antarctica, a howling river of] wind, 50 miles wide, blows off the plateau, month in and month out, at an average velocity of 50 m.p.h. As a source of power this compares favorably with 6,000 tons of water falling every second over Niagara Falls. I will not further anticipate some H. G. Wells of the future who will ring the antarctic with power-producing windmills; but the winds of the Antarctic have to be felt to be believed, and nothing is quite impossible to physicists and engineers."

"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The Answer is blown' in the wind."

"When gentle winds blow through the city and strong winds scatter, I stand up as an equal to Ickur. I am Ezina, I am born for the warrior -- I do not give up."

"After this I saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding tight the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow upon the earth or upon the sea or upon any tree."

"Perhaps the wind Wails so in winter for the summer's dead, And all sad sounds are nature's funeral cries For what has been and is not."

"But certain winds will make men's temper bad."

"What joy have I in June's return? My feet are parched—my eyeballs burn, I scent no flowery gust; But faint the flagging Zephyr springs, With dry Macadam on its wings, And turns me "dust to dust.""

"The way of the Wind is a strange, wild way."

"Prophesy to the wind, to the wind only for only The wind will listen."

"Weave the wind. I have no ghosts, An old man in a draughty house Under a windy knob."

"Like the wind crying endlessly through the universe, Time carries away the names and the deeds of conquerors and commoners alike. And all that we are, all that remains, is in the memories of those who cared we came this way for a brief moment."

"The shadow of a dove Falls on the cote, the trees are filled with wings; And down the valley through the crying trees The body of the darker storm flies; brings With its new air the breath of sunken seas And slender tenuous thunder . . . But I wait . . . Wait for the mists and for the blacker rain— Heavier winds that stir the veil of fate, Happier winds that pile her hair; Again They tear me, teach me, strew the heavy air Upon me, winds that I know, and storm."

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill.You know how it is with an April dayWhen the sun is out and the wind is still,You´re one month on in the middle of May.But if you so much as dare to speak,A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,A wind comes off a frozen peak,And you´re two months back in the middle of March."

"The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators."

"Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows,While proudly riding o'er the azure realmIn gallant trim the gilded vessel goes;Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm;Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway,That, hushed in grim repose, expects his evening prey."

"ਬੋਲੈ ਪਉਣੁ ॥ ਬੁਝੁ ਰੇ ਗਿਆਨੀ ਮੂਆ ਹੈ ਕਉਣੁ ॥"

"He who will establish himself on a certain height must yield according to circumstances, like the weather-cock on a church-spire, which, though it be made of iron, would soon be broken by the storm-wind if it remained obstinately immovable, and did not understand the noble art of turning to every wind."

"The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows — a wall against the wind. This is the willow's purpose."

"When the wind carries a cry which is meaningful to human ears, it is simpler to believe the wind shares with us some part of the emotion of Being than that the mysteries of a hurricane's rising murmur reduce to no more than the random collision of insensate molecules."