Quotes about water
page 9

Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo
Janeane Garofalo photo
Moshe Dayan photo
Dan Rather photo
Lothar de Maizière photo
Kent Hovind photo
Colley Cibber photo

“This business will never hold water.”

Colley Cibber (1671–1757) British poet laureate

She Wou'd and She Wou'd Not, Act IV (1703).

Charles Lamb photo

“The mixture spoils two good things, as Charles Lamb (Elia) used to say of brandy and water.”

Charles Lamb (1775–1834) English essayist

Abraham Hayward, writing in the Edinburgh Review in 1848.
Attributed

Fyodor Dostoyevsky photo
J.M. Coetzee photo
Eduardo Torroja photo
John Muir photo

“By forces seemingly antagonistic and destructive Nature accomplishes her beneficent designs — now a flood of fire, now a flood of ice, now a flood of water; and again in the fullness of time an outburst of organic life.”

John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author

"Mount Shasta" in Picturesque California (1888-1890) page 148; reprinted in Steep Trails (1918), chapter 3
1880s

Thomas Campbell photo
Prem Rawat photo

“Listen to satsang. It is a very good thing. God created day and night. After that He created excellent things to eat, and then he landed us in this world. Isn't this human body beautiful? There is a nose to breathe with. Tell me, could we have survived without it? See what a good job of seeing these eyes do. Look how beautiful are the hands and the feet. If no seva is done, then these hands are of no use. These two ears have been given, if we don’t listen to satsang with them, aren’t they useless? If you do not go to satsang walking with these feet, they are also worthless. God has created all the parts of this body quite well, but if we don't use them properly, it is our fault, not the Creator's. The river flowing over there is the Ganga, but it is not flowing for its own use. It is we who drink its water, wash our clothes in it, and irrigate our fields with it. By bathing in it only the dirt of this body is washed, but by bathing in the Ganga of satsang, all the evils are removed. What I am telling you is also written in the Gita. But Gita cannot make you understand. Only the satguru can make you understand the satnam (true name), so do practice Knowledge. Look at Lord Shiva sitting with eyes closed [pointing towards a fountain with a statue of Shiva]. He always stays in the contemplation of Guru Maharaj. Whenever I see him he doesn’t do any other work. I don’t know whether he doesn’t like doing any other work or what. Therefore, you too should also practice Knowledge like this.”

Prem Rawat (1957) controversial spiritual leader

Prem Nagar, Hardwar August 21,1962 (translated from Hindi). Birthday Celebrations, as published in "Hansadesh" magazine, Issue 1, Mahesh Kare, January 1963. (First published address.)
1960s

John W. Gardner photo
Kenneth Grahame photo
Sarah Chang photo
Hans Christian Andersen photo
W.C. Fields photo
Harold L. Ickes photo
Edvard Munch photo
Enver Hoxha photo
Silius Italicus photo

“So, when a pebble breaks the surface of a motionless pool, in its first movements it forms tiny rings; and next, while the water glints and shimmers under the growing force, it swells the number of the circles over the rounding pond, until at last one extended circle reaches with wide-spreading compass from bank to bank.”
Sic, ubi perrupit stagnantem calculus undam, exiguos format per prima volumina gyros, mox tremulum uibrans motu gliscente liquorem multiplicat crebros sinuati gurgitis orbes, donec postremo laxatis circulus oris contingat geminas patulo curuamine ripas.

Book XIII, lines 24–29
Compare:
As on the smooth expanse of crystal lakes
The sinking stone at first a circle makes;
The trembling surface, by the motion stirred,
Spreads in a second circle, then a third;
Wide, and more wide, the floating rings advance,
Fill all the watery plain, and to the margin dance.
Alexander Pope, Temple of Fame, lines 436–441
As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake:
The centre moved, a circle straight succeeds,
Another still, and still another spreads.
Alexander Pope, Essay on Man, Ep. IV, lines 364–367
Punica

Robert Fludd photo

“Particulars are frequently fallible, but universals never. Occult philosophy lays bare Nature in her complete nakedness, and alone contemplates the wisdom of universals by the eyes of intelligence. Accustomed to partake of the rivers which flow from the Fountain of Life, it is unacquainted with grossness and with clouded waters.”

Robert Fludd (1574–1637) British mathematician and astrologer

Robert Fludd, cited in: Arthur Edward Waite (1887). The Real History of the Rosicrucians Founded on Their Own Manifestoes https://archive.org/stream/realhistoryofros00waituoft#page/290/mode/1up. p. 290
Waite commented: "Like others of his school, Fludd insists on the uncertainty of a posteriori and experimental methods, to which he unhesitatingly attributes all the errors of the natural sciences..."

Sri Aurobindo photo
Henri Lefebvre photo
Charles Lyell photo
Roger Bacon photo

“I use the example of the rainbow and of the phenomena connected with it, of which sort are the circle around the sun and the stars, likewise the rod lying at the side of the sun or of a star which appears to the eye in a straight line… called the rod by Seneca, and the circle is called the corona, which often has the colors of the rainbow. But neither Aristotle nor Avicenna, in their Natural Histories, has given us knowledge of things of this sort, nor has Seneca, who composed a special book on them. But Experimental Science makes certain of them. [The experimenter] considers rowers and he finds the same colors in the falling drops dripping from the raised oars when the solar rays penetrate drops of this sort. It is the same with waters falling from the wheels of a mill; and when a man sees the drops of dew in summer of a morning lying on the grass in the meadow or the field, he will see the colors. And in the same way when it rains, if he stands in a shady place and if the rays beyond it pass through dripping moisture, then the colors will appear in the shadow nearby; and very frequently of a night colors appear around the wax candle. Moreover, if a man in summer, when he rises from sleep and while his eyes are yet only partly opened, looks suddenly toward an aperture through which a ray of the sun enters, he will see colors. And if, while seated beyond the sun, he extend his hat before his eyes, he will see colors; and in the same way if he closes his eye, the same thing happens under the shade of the eyebrow; and again, the same phenomenon occurs through a glass vessel filled with water, placed in the rays of the sun. Or similarly if any one holding water in his mouth sprinkles it vigorously into the rays and stands to the side of the rays; and if rays in the proper position pass through an oil lamp hanging in the air, so that the light falls on the surface of the oil, colors will be produced. And so in an infinite number of ways, as well natural as artificial, colors of this sort appear, as the careful experimenter is able to discover.”

6th part Experimental Science, Ch.2 Tr. Richard McKeon, Selections from Medieval Philosophers Vol.2 Roger Bacon to William of Ockham
Opus Majus, c. 1267

Cassandra Clare photo
Karl Pilkington photo

“I don't cry. Water doesn't leave my head. I've got loads of gob. That's how water leaves me, it's not out of my eyes.”

Karl Pilkington (1972) English television personality, social commentator, actor, author and former radio producer

The Moaning of Life, General Quotes

Karl Pilkington photo

“Hypothetical: Shipwrecked and eating a penis- …I'll look for something else. We're surrounded by water. Why are we eating knob?”

Karl Pilkington (1972) English television personality, social commentator, actor, author and former radio producer

Podcast Series 3 Episode 3
On Food

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar photo

“Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man's life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his self.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) Father of republic India, champion of human rights, father of India's Constitution, polymath, revolutionary…

As quoted in Book Of Happiness, by Jagdish Gupta https://books.google.co.in/books?id=H7cwBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&dq=Unlike+a+drop+of+water+which+loses+its+identity+when+it+joins+the+ocean,+man+does+not+lose+his+being+in+the+society+in+which+he+lives.+Man%27s+life+is+i&source=bl&ots=eVeEf_7dR3&sig=88DaiaoPeTdFtzRM73yLcZmasVg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEMQ6AEwB2oVChMIh7H05PiSyAIVRNSOCh2zIABs#v=onepage&q=Unlike%20a%20drop%20of%20water%20which%20loses%20its%20identity%20when%20it%20joins%20the%20ocean%2C%20man%20does%20not%20lose%20his%20being%20in%20the%20society%20in%20which%20he%20lives.%20Man%27s%20life%20is%20i&f=false
Variant: Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man's life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his self.

“The new earth will be like Eden... the deserts will gush with water. … A beautiful and bountiful land will flourish.”

Paul P. Enns (1937) American theologian

Source: Heaven Revealed (Moody, 2011), p. 115

Mamie Van Doren photo

“The final dive of the ship, as the bow lay submerged and the stern rose out of the water, was truly horrendous for all who witnessed it.”

Steve Turner (1949) British writer

Source: The Band That Played On (Thomas Nelson, 2011), pp. 153-154

Thandie Newton photo
Ramakrishna photo
Huston Smith photo
James Morris III photo

“O Nation, collect your compassion. Weep! For one of your shining lights is entombed in darkness. Weep! O ye officers and soldiers, whom he loved and led to military glory. Weep! O ye farmers and ye Poor, for your improver and benefactor has become a prey to worms. Come water his tomb with your tears.”

James Morris III (1752–1820) American writer

Memorial service for George Washington held in South Farms, Connecticut, 22 February 1880. As quoted in [Strong, Barbara Nolen, The Morris Academy: Pioneer in Coeducation, Morris Bicentennial Committee, 1976, Torrington, 31, http://books.google.com/books?id=nrCYGQAACAAJ&dq]

Thomas Campbell photo
José Maria Eça de Queiroz photo

“The Englishman falls on the ideas and customs of other nations like a lump of granite in the water: and there he stays, a weighty encumbrance, with his Bible, his sports and his prejudices, his etiquette and selfishness – completely unaccommodating to those among whom he lives. That is why he remains, in the countries where he has lived for centuries, a foreigner.”

O inglês cai sobre as ideias e as maneiras dos outros como uma massa de granito na água: e ali fica pesando, com a sua Bíblia, os seus clubes, os seus sports, os seus prejuízos, a sua etiqueta, o seu egoísmo – fazendo na circulação da vida alheia um incomodativo tropeço. É por isso que nos países onde vive há séculos é ele ainda o estrangeiro.
"Os Ingleses no Egipto"; "The English in Egypt" p. 160.
Cartas de Inglaterra (1879–82)

“Stop complaining about the price of your gas. Be thankful your car doesn't run on bottled water.”

David A. Ridenour, "If Your Car Ran on Bottled Water, You'd be Paying $6.40 a Gallon," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 1, 2006

Theodore L. Cuyler photo
Mark Tobey photo

“We all feel a separateness; we wish that a drop of water would soften our ego; the world needs a common conscience: agreement.... we must concentrate outside ourselves.”

Mark Tobey (1890–1976) American abstract expressionist painter

Quote from Tobey's Bahai lecture, 1951; as quoted in Abstract Expressionist Painting in America, W.C, Seitz, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1983, pp. 66/67
1950's

Stendhal photo

“A novel is a mirror carried along a high road. At one moment it reflects to your vision the azure skies at another the mire of the puddles at your feet. And the man who carries this mirror in his pack will be accused by you of being immoral! His mirror shews the mire, and you blame the mirror! Rather blame that high road upon which the puddle lies, still more the inspector of roads who allows the water to gather and the puddle to form.”

Un roman est un miroir qui se promène sur une grande route. Tantôt il reflète à vos yeux l’azur des cieux, tantôt la fange des bourbiers de la route. Et l’homme qui porte le miroir dans sa hotte sera par vous accusé‚ d’être immoral ! Son miroir montre la fange, et vous accusez le miroir! Accusez bien plutôt le grand chemin où est le bourbier, et plus encore l’inspecteur des routes qui laisse l’eau croupir et le bourbier se former.
Vol. II, ch. XIX
Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) (1830)

Mahmud of Ghazni photo
Nick Cave photo
Albert Einstein photo

“Nuclear power is a hell of a way to boil water.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Commonly quoted on the internet, this quote is actually from Karl Grossman, via his 1980 book Cover Up: What You are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power (p. 155; freely available online via its publisher http://www.thepermanentpress.com/p-354-cover-up.aspx; see PDF page 187).
Misattributed

Thomas Chatterton photo
John Fante photo
Alfred Stieglitz photo
Masha Gessen photo
Paul Klee photo
Denis Papin photo
Walter de la Mare photo
Iain Banks photo
Jimmy Hoffa photo

“They all know I'm back, very much back, and that I will be the general president again come hell or high water.”

Jimmy Hoffa (1913–1982) American labor leader

Source: Hoffa The Real Story (1975), Chapter 1, I'll Be Back, p. 24

Miguel de Unamuno photo
Wallace Stevens photo
Vitruvius photo
Stephen Crane photo
Francis Escudero photo
Báb photo
Thomas Carlyle photo
Paul Graham photo
Thomas Fuller (writer) photo

“2023. Assist the afflicted with something real, if thou canst; As for Tears they are but Water, what good can they do?”

Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual

Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727)

Baruch Spinoza photo
Muhammad photo

“The example of the five (daily) prayers is like that of a clear-water river flowing in front of your houses in which a person washes himself five times a day – cleansing him from all dirt.”

Muhammad (570–632) Arabian religious leader and the founder of Islam

Kanzul `Ummal, Volume 7, Tradition 18931
Shi'ite Hadith

Kent Hovind photo
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar photo
Theodore Watts-Dunton photo

“A sonnet is a wave of melody
From heaving waters of the impassion'd soul.”

Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832–1914) English literary critic and poet

from The Sonnets Voice (A Meterical Lesson by the Seashore).

Janeane Garofalo photo

“I think we all remember where we were when Rush Hour hit the water. That was an important day.”

Janeane Garofalo (1964) comedian, actress, political activist, writer

self-titled TV comedy special, 1997
Standup routines

Carl Sagan photo
Robert Erskine Childers photo
Wilfred Thesiger photo

“Personally, I would forgo any other comfort to drink clean water.”

Wilfred Thesiger (1910–2003) British explorer

Source: The Life Of My Choice (1987), p. 153.

Gautama Buddha photo
Margaret Thatcher photo
Terry Winograd photo
Halldór Laxness photo

“When I was in Bessastaðir I had a jug of water—and an ax. A well-sharpened ax is a fine tool. On the other hand I've never been fond of the gallows, and never less than when I wrestled a hanged man.”

Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) Icelandic author

Jón Hreggviðsson
Íslandsklukkan (Iceland's Bell) (1946), Part II: The Fair Maiden

Walter de la Mare photo
Brandon Boyd photo

“I am bottled, fizzy water, and you are shaking me up.”

Brandon Boyd (1976) American rock singer, writer and visual artist

Lyrics, Morning View (2001)

Gloria Estefan photo
Tom Petty photo
Muhammad photo

“A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that.”

Muhammad (570–632) Arabian religious leader and the founder of Islam

Bukhari 4:538 http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/bukhari/bh4/bh4_541.htm This is an extraordinary hadith, because following the Sunnah of Muhammad (peace be upon him), prostitutes can be extremely despised figures among most Muslims, yet it expresses the idea that even someone working in one of the most despised of professions, in showing mercy to an animal, can merit the forgiveness of Allah, and the wise.
Sunni Hadith

Roger Waters photo
Luther Burbank photo
Walter Scott photo

“Bluid is thicker than water.”

Guy Mannering (1815), Ch. 38.

Sylvia Plath photo
Shingai Shoniwa photo
Alauddin Khalji photo
John Updike photo
Howard Bloom photo