“From my observations I noted how an increased water level resulting from a thaw builds up mud banks, which are then partially dispersed during clear cool nights when the water temperature drops. I then waited for an increase in the strength of the water current. This takes place in the early hours of the morning, when it is coolest, and particularly during full moon, in spite of the fact that the actual volume of the water is then apparently less, because of its contraction through cooling. I arranged for the timber to enter the water at the right moment, and in one single night 1600 cubic metres of timber were all brought down to a temporarily constructed pond in the valley.”

“Be patient and wait. Your mud will settle. Your water will be clear.”

“Some years ago I found myself in discussion with a friend who entertained the notion that the general tendency of things in this world is towards equilibrium, the result of which would be peace and blessedness to the human race. My notion, was that equilibrium meant… death. No motive power is to be got from heat, save during its fall from a higher to a lower temperature, as no power is to be got from water save during its descent from a higher to a lower level. Thus also life consists, not in equilibrium, but in the passage towards equilibrium. In man it is the leap from the potential through the actual to repose.”

“China might seem quite successful in its controls, but it has only raised the water level. It’s like building a dam: it thinks there is more water so it will build higher. But every drop of water is still in there. It doesn’t understand how to let the pressure out. It builds up a way to maintain control and push the problem to the next generation.”

“Water belongs to us all. Nature did not make the sun one person's property, nor air, nor water, cool and clear.”
Usus communis aquarum est. Nec solem proprium natura nec aera fecit nec tenues undas

“Once the well should be emptied of its water. All the mud should be removed. The water which then comes is the purest. Jnana is like this pure water. Once you burn away the thought of 'I' and 'mine', then non-attachment to the objects of the senses will result of its own accord.”

“The solid morning mist began to disintegrate and dark shoulders of rock appeared in the water giving the illusion of swimmers, reaching from bank to bank, dispersing from themselves wreaths of snakes with imperceptible strokes.”

“A drop of water when you are thirsty gives such relief. The same drop in a fountain inspires you with its beauty. The same water in a dirty drain is repelling. And the same drop in the river makes you want to swim there and take a bath. And when the same water goes in the sea it thrills you with its power.”

“Does not, as fire dropped upon water is immediately extinguished and cooled, so, does not, I say, a false accusation, when brought in contact with a most pure and holy life, instantly fall and become extinguished?”
Nonne, ut ignis in aquam conjectus, continuo restinguitur et refrigeratur, sic refervens falsum crimen in purissimam et castissimam vitam collatum, statim concidit et extinguitur?

“I come down to the water to cool my eyes. But everywhere I look I see fire; that which isn't flint is tinder, and the whole world sparks and flames.”