Wind Quotes

400+ Sourced quotes

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Bruce Lee

Michel de Montaigne

Seneca the Younger

Catherine the Great

Kahlil Gibran

Abigail Adams

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.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.

Seneca the Younger

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable.

Seneca the Younger

A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.

Catherine the Great

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.

Michel de Montaigne

All the 20th we were endeavouring to get into Adventure Bay but were prevented by variable winds.

The wind was a torrent of darkness upon the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight looping the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding —
Riding — riding —
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.

The day cold and fair with a high easterly wind: we were visited by two Indians who gave us an account of the country and people near the Rocky mountains where they had been.

Meriwether Lewis

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

A clear cold morning with high wind: we caught in a trap a large gray wolf, and last night obtained in the same way a fox who had for some time infested the neighbourhood of the fort.

Meriwether Lewis

Softly the loud peal dies, In passing winds it drowns, But breathes, like perfect joys, Tender tones.

Frederick Tennyson

I keep sailing on in this middle passage. I am sailing into the wind and the dark. But I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full.

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Percy Bysshe Shelley

What, nephew, said the king, is the wind in that door?

The seas are quiet when the winds give o'er; So calm are we when passions are no more!

From too much love of living,
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no life lives for ever,
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea.

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will. Integrity is not a search for the rewards of integrity. Maybe all you ever get for it is the largest kick in the ass the world can provide. It is not supposed to be a productive asset.

John D. MacDonald

The swift wind of compromise is a lot more devastating than the sudden jolt of misfortune.

It's a warm wind, the west wind, full of birds' cries;
I never hear the west wind but tears are in my eyes.
For it comes from the west lands, the old brown hills,
And April's in the west wind, and daffodils.

Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.

Summer set lip to earth's bosom bare;
And left the flushed print in a poppy there:
Like a yawn of fire from the grass it came,
And the fanning wind puffed it to flapping flame.

Francis Thompson

The populace is like the sea, motionless in itself, but stirred by every wind, even the lightest breeze.

Given a fair wind, we will negotiate our way into the Common Market, head held high, not crawling in. Negotiations? Yes. Unconditional acceptance of whatever terms are offered us? No.