“The rose petal floats on water. The kingfisher flashes above the pond. Life and beauty swirl in the midst of death.”
al'Lan Mandragoran
(15 January 1990)
Source: The Eye of the World
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Robert Jordan 305
American writer 1948–2007Related quotes
The Evolution of A Revolt (1920)
Context: Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals. It can only be ensured by instinct, sharpened by thought practicing the stroke so often that at the crisis it is as natural as a reflex.
“Petals floating by, Drift through my woman’s hand, As she remembers me.”
Source: Startide Rising (1983), Chapter 103 (p. 418)
“The old pond:
A frog jumps in,—
The sound of the water.”
古池や
蛙飛び込む
水の音
furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
Classical Japanese Database, Translation #64 http://carlsensei.com/classical/index.php/translation/view/64 (Translation: Reginald Horace Blyth)
At the ancient pond
the frog plunges into
the sound of water
Translation: Sam Hamill
Old pond,
leap-splash –
a frog.
Basho, On Love and Barley: Haiku of Basho, London, 1985, p. 58 (Translation: Lucien Stryk)
Breaking the silence
Of an ancient pond,
A frog jumped into water –
A deep resonance.
Matsuo Bashō, The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches, London, 1966, p. 9 (Translation: Nobuyuki Yuasa)
Individual poems
“Mountain-rose petals
Falling, falling, falling now…
Waterfall music”
Source: Japanese Haiku
“Her body was wrapped in shadows like moth wings, like rose-petals.”
Source: Bag of Bones
“Ripples on a pond cannot touch a bird hovering above it.”
Source: Titans of Chaos (2007), Chapter 18, “Dream Storm” Section 14 (p. 250)