“Ever-newer waters flow on those who step into the same rivers.”
Fragment 12
Numbered fragments
“Ever-newer waters flow on those who step into the same rivers.”
Fragment 12
Numbered fragments
Cities of the Red Night (1981)
Context: There is simply no room left for 'freedom from the tyranny of government' since city dwellers depend on it for food, power, water, transportation, protection, and welfare. Your right to live where you want, with companions of your choosing, under laws to which you agree, died in the eighteenth century with Captain Mission. Only a miracle or a disaster could restore it.
"" ("Walking on a wave's chicane" are the official lyrics, but these are often heard and quoted as "Walking on a wave she came")
Eldorado, A Symphony (1974)
Context: Midnight on the water
I saw the ocean's daughter
Walking on a wave's chicane
Staring as she called my name And I can't get it out of my head
No, I can't get it out of my head
Now my old world is gone for dead
'Cos I can't get it out of my head
As translated by Ejvind Haas
Siddhartha (1922)
Context: When you throw a rock into the water, it will speed on the fastest course to the bottom of the water. This is how it is when Siddhartha has a goal, a resolution. Siddhartha does nothing, he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he passes through the things of the world like a rock through water, without doing anything, without stirring; he is drawn, he lets himself fall. His goal attracts him, because he doesn't let anything enter his soul which might oppose the goal. This is what Siddhartha has learned among the Samanas. This is what fools call magic and of which they think it would be effected by means of the daemons. Nothing is effected by daemons, there are no daemons. Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast.
“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water. ”
Letter to a Phoenix (p. 337)
Short fiction, From These Ashes (2000)
"Conservation" (c. 1938); Published in Round River, Luna B. Leopold (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1966, p. 145-146.
1930s
Voltaire's account of his conversations with Andrew Pit
The History of the Quakers (1762)
The Poems of Lal Ded, poem 59, p. 15
Poetry
Source: How we're growing baby corals to rebuild reefs https://www.ted.com/talks/kristen_marhaver_how_we_re_growing_baby_corals_to_rebuild_reefs (October 2015)
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), I Prolegomena and General Introduction to the Book on Painting
“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.”
1973
“We must choose between champagne for a few or drinking water for all.”
Quoted in Le Monde https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2021/12/23/thomas-sankara-l-itineraire-tourmente-d-un-homme-integre-sur-brutx_6107156_3246.html
Source: JetSet Instagram Caption: https://www.instagram.com/p/CqJWWZAvoY2/
“Just like water and air, connection with others is a basic human need.”
“A woman is like a teabag - only in hot water do you realize how strong she is.”
Source: Factotum (1975), Ch. 17
Context: I got into bed, opened the bottle, worked the pillow into a hard knot behind my back, took a deep breath, and sat in the dark looking out of the window. It was the first time I had been alone for five days. I was a man who thrived on solitude; without it I was like another man without food or water. Each day without solitude weakened me. I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it. The darkness of the room was like sunlight to me. I took a drink of wine.
Source: Bleach, Volume 18
Source: The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003)
Context: Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. The moments that used to define them - a mother's approval, a father's nod - are covered by moments of their own accomplishments. It is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that children understand; their stories, and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives.
“so much depends
upon a red wheel
barrow glazed with rain
water beside the white
chickens”
"The Red Wheelbarrow"
Source: Spring and All (1923)
“Sometimes grace works like water wings when you feel you are sinking.”
Source: Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
“You are a pool of clear water where the light plays”
Source: Written on the Body
Source: Magic Burns
“I bought some powdered water, but I don't know what to add.”
Steven Wright Special (1985)
Variant: But I hate to hear you talking so like a fine gentleman, and as if women were all fine ladies, instead of rational creatures. We none of us expect to be in smooth water all our days.
Source: Persuasion
“During a warm winter rain… the basins of her collarbones collected water.”
Source: The Virgin Suicides
Source: God-Shaped Hole
Source: Bleach, Volume 04
“Information is a lot like water; it's hard to hold on to, and hard to keep from leaking away.”
Source: A Tale for the Time Being
3 Minute Wonder, Episode 4
On Nature
Source: The Ricky Gervais Show - First, Second and Third Seasons
“What is the scent of water?"
"Renewal. The goodness of God coming down like dew.”
Source: The Scent of Water
“It doesn't matter if the water is cold or warm if you're going to have to wade through it anyway.”
“Human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another.”
Source: Another Roadside Attraction