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."

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

"To a crazy ship all winds are contrary."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

""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."

"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."

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

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

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

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

"It is the winterwind that blows, wailing all night long, wailing for the far-off day; the branches toss, the boughs sway, it is the winterwind that blows... And the winds of winter sing a song of loneliness and silent sorrow; echo-less their lament dies away over the empty veld in the night, sighing through the grass seeds, and drawn is far away."

"The wind is not helpless for any man's need, Nor falleth the rain but for thistle and weed."

"Mournfully, oh, mournfully,The midnight wind doth sigh,Like some sweet plaintive melodyOf ages long gone by."

"The example of a believer is like a fresh tender plant; from whichever direction the wind blows, it bends the plant. But when the wind dies down, (it) straightens up again."

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail."

"Look when the clouds are blowing And all the winds are free: In fury of their going They fall upon the sea. But though the blast is frantic, And though the tempest raves, The deep immense Atlantic Is still beneath the waves."

"We love the kindly wind and hail,The jolly thunderbolt,We watch in glee the fairy trailOf ampere, watt, and volt."

"Indoors or out, no one relaxesIn March, that month of wind and taxes,The wind will presently disappear,The taxes last us all the year."

"A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind. Even a head wind is better than none. No man ever worked his passage anywhere in a dead calm."

"Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."

"A rush of wind comes furiously now, down from the mountaintop. "The ancient Greeks," I say, "who were the inventors of classical reason, knew better than to use it exclusively to foretell the future. They listened to the wind and predicted the future from that. That sounds insane now. But why should the inventors of reason sound insane?""

"The American, Charles Brush is often credited with being the first person to use a wind powered machine to generate electricity, which operated for the first time during the winter of 1887. However, earlier in July 1887, Professor James Blyth, a Scottish academic of Anderson's College, Glasgow (which later became Strathclyde University) was undertaking very similar experiments to Brush, which culminated in a UK patent in 1891. Likewise the Dane, Poul La Cour, is known to have constructed relatively advanced wind turbines throughout the 1890s, which were also used to generate electricity which was then used to produce hydrogen."

"I chose none to ask why the wind was blowing there chasing the fogs"

"The wind is blowing, adore the wind."

"I thought you understood," he said. "The world is your teacher. It will be all around you. The ocean and the wind and the stars and the moon will all teach you many things."

"A sudden gust: How big the world seems in a wind."

"Perhaps we cannot raise the winds. But each of us can put up the sail, so that when the wind comes we can catch it."

"Come as the winds come, when Forests are rended, Come as the waves come, when Navies are stranded."

"Ignoranti quem portum petat nullus suus ventus est."

"What wind blew you hither, Pistol? Not the ill wind which blows no man to good."

"Ill blows the wind that profits nobody."

"Rough wind, the moanest loud Grief too sad for song; Wild wind, when sullen cloud Knells all the night long; Sad storm, whose tears are vain, Bare woods, whose branches strain, Deep caves and dreary main, — Wail, for the world's wrong!"

"I arise from dreams of thee In the first sweet sleep of night, When the winds are breathing low, And the stars are shining bright."

"We hear the wail of the remorseful windsIn their strange penance. And this wretched orbKnows not the taste of rest; a maniac world,Homeless and sobbing through the deep she goes."

"Let the winds blow! a fiercer galeIs wild within me! what may quellThat sullen tempest? I must sailWhither, O whither, who can tell!"

"I listen to the windTo the wind of my soulWhere I'll end up well I think,Only God really knows"

"The north wind is a satisfying wind; the south wind is harmful to man. The east wind is a rain-bearing wind; the west wind is greater than those who live there. The east wind is a wind of prosperity, the friend of Naram-Suen."

"I have grown weary of the winds of heaven.I will not be a reed to hold the soundOf whatsoever breath the gods may blow,Turning my torment into music for them.They gave me life; the gift was bountiful,I lived with the swift singing strength of fire,Seeking for beauty as a flame for fuel —Beauty in all things and in every hour.The gods have given life — I gave them song;The debt is paid and now I turn to go."

"It is difficult to believe, but it is, nevertheless, a fact, that since time immemorial man has had at his disposal a fairly good machine which has enabled him to utilize the energy of the ambient medium. This machine is the windmill. Contrary to popular belief, the power obtainable from wind is very considerable. Many a deluded inventor has spent years of his life in endeavoring to "harness the tides," and some have even proposed to compress air by tide- or wave-power for supplying energy, never understanding the signs of the old windmill on the hill, as it sorrowfully waved its arms about and bade them stop. The fact is that a wave- or tide-motor would have, as a rule, but a small chance of competing commercially with the windmill, which is by far the better machine, allowing a much greater amount of energy to be obtained in a simpler way. Wind-power has been, in old times, of inestimable value to man, if for nothing else but for enabling him, to cross the seas, and it is even now a very important factor in travel and transportation. But there are great limitations in this ideally simple method of utilizing the sun's energy. The machines are large for a given output, and the power is intermittent, thus necessitating the storage of energy and increasing the cost of the plant."

"You too, ye winds! that now begin to blow, With boisterous sweep, I raise my voice to you. Where are your stores, ye viewless beings! say? Where your aerial magazines reserv’d, Against the day of tempest perilous? In what untravel'd country of the air, Hush’d in still silence, sleep you, when ‘tis calm?"

"A fresher Gale Begins to wave the wood, and stir the stream, Sweeping with shadowy gust the fields of corn; While the Quail clamors for his running mate."

"You who govern public affairs, what need have you to employ punishments? Love virtue, and the people will be virtuous. The virtues of a superior man are like the wind; the virtues of a common man are like the grass -- I the grass, when the wind passes over it, bends."