Quotes about rain
page 2

Alfred Denning, Baron Denning photo
Russell L. Ackoff photo
Laozi photo
Claude Monet photo
Jeff Lynne photo
Alexander Smith photo

“In winter, when the dismal rain
Comes down in slanting lines,
And Wind, that grand old harper, smote
His thunder-harp of pines.”

Alexander Smith (1829–1867) Scottish poet and essayist

Scene 2.
A Life Drama and other Poems (1853)

Eduardo Galeano photo
Stephen Hawking photo
David Attenborough photo
Pablo Neruda photo

“I am alone with rickety materials,
the rain falls on me, and it is like me,
it is like me in its raving, alone in the dead world,
repulsed as it falls, and with no persistent form.”

Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Chilean poet

Estoy solo entre materias desvencijadas,
la lluvia cae sobre mí, y se me parece,
se me parece con su desvarío,solitaria en el mundo muerto,
rechazada al caer, y sin forma obstinada.
Débil del Alba (Weak with the Dawn or The Dawn's Debility), Residencia I (Residence I), I, stanza 5.
Alternate translation by Donald D. Walsh:
I am alone among rickety substances,
the rain falls upon me and it seems like me,
like me with its madness, alone in the dead world,
rejected as it falls, and without persistent shape.
Residencia en la Tierra (Residence on Earth) (1933)

Cassandra Clare photo
Cassandra Clare photo
Herodotus photo

“It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.”

Book 8, Ch. 98
variant: Not snow, no, nor rain, nor heat, nor night keeps them from accomplishing their appointed courses with all speed. (Book 8, Ch. 98)
Paraphrase: "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" ”
Appears carved over entrance to Central Post Office building in New York City.
The Histories

Ryōkan photo

“The rain has stopped, the clouds have drifted away, and the weather is clear again.”

Ryōkan (1758–1831) Japanese Buddhist monk

Zen Poetics of Ryokan (2006)
Context: The rain has stopped, the clouds have drifted away, and the weather is clear again.
If your heart is pure, then all things in your world are pure.
Abandon this fleeting world, abandon yourself,
Then the moon and flowers will guide you along the Way.

“I am a being of Heaven and Earth,
of thunder and lightning,
of rain and wind,
of the galaxies,
of the suns and the stars
and the void through which they travel.”

Eden ahbez (1908–1995) American songwriter and recording artist

Tape recording declaring how he recited one of his poems in response to a question "What is your background?" (1992)
Shadowbox Studio
Context: I am a being of Heaven and Earth,
of thunder and lightning,
of rain and wind,
of the galaxies,
of the suns and the stars
and the void through which they travel.
The essence of nature,
eternal, divine that all men seek to know to hear,
known as the great illusion time,
and the all-prevailing atmosphere.
And now you know my background.

Humphry Davy photo

“It is surely a pure delight to know, how and by what processes this earth is clothed with verdure and life, how the clouds, mists and rain are formed, what causes all the changes of this terrestrial system of things, and by what divine laws order is preserved amidst apparent confusion.”

Humphry Davy (1778–1829) Cornish chemist

The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy, Volume IX, Salmonia and Consolation in Travel (1840), Consolation in Travel book section, Chapter Dialogue V. The Chemical Philosopher, p. 361 http://books.google.de/books?id=KDw9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA362&lpg=PA362&dq=humphry+davy+Every+discovery+opens+a+new+field+for+investigation+of+facts,+shows+us+the+imperfection+of+our+theories.+It+has+justly+been+said,+that+the+greater+the+circle+of+light,+the+greater+the+boundary+of+darkness+by+which+it+is+surrounded.&source=bl&ots=9MZhcfRJFa&sig=UI05WRE5VzJDjfKd7Kf1Cp9B06Y&hl=de&sa=X&ei=WfSvUoG1OsiatAaHq4CIDg&ved=0CEoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=humphry%20davy%20Every%20discovery%20opens%20a%20new%20field%20for%20investigation%20of%20facts%2C%20shows%20us%20the%20imperfection%20of%20our%20theories.%20It%20has%20justly%20been%20said%2C%20that%20the%20greater%20the%20circle%20of%20light%2C%20the%20greater%20the%20boundary%20of%20darkness%20by%20which%20it%20is%20surrounded.&f=false, edited by John Davy, London: Smith, Elder and Co. Cornhill
Context: It is surely a pure delight to know, how and by what processes this earth is clothed with verdure and life, how the clouds, mists and rain are formed, what causes all the changes of this terrestrial system of things, and by what divine laws order is preserved amidst apparent confusion. It is a sublime occupation to investigate the cause of the tempest and the volcano, and to point out their use in the economy of things, — to bring the lightning from the clouds and make it subservient to our experiments, — to produce as it were a microcosm in the laboratory of art, and to measure and weigh those invisible atoms, which, by their motions and changes according to laws impressed upon them by the Divine Intelligence, constitute the universe of things. The true chemical philosopher sees good in all the diversified forms of the external world. Whilst he investigates the operations of infinite power guided by infinite wisdom, all low prejudices, all mean superstitions disappear from his mind. He sees man an atom amidst atoms fixed upon a point in space; and yet modifying the laws that are around him by understanding them; and gaining, as it were, a kind of dominion over time, and an empire in material space, and exerting on a scale infinitely small a power seeming a sort of shadow or reflection of a creative energy, and which entitles him to the distinction of being made in the image of God and animated by a spark of the divine mind. Whilst chemical pursuits exalt the understanding, they do not depress the imagination or weaken genuine feelings; whilst they give the mind habits of accuracy, by obliging it to attend to facts, they likewise extend its analogies; and, though conversant with the minute forms of things, they have for their ultimate end the great and magnificent objects of nature. They regard the formation of a crystal, the structure of a pebble, the nature of a clay or earth; and they apply to the causes of the diversity of our mountain chains, the appearances of the winds, thunder-storms, meteors, the earthquake, the volcano, and all those phenomena which offer the most striking images to the poet and the painter. They keep alive that inextinguishable thirst after knowledge, which is one of the greatest charactics of our nature; — for every discovery opens a new field for investigation of facts, shows us the imperfection of our theories. It has justly been said, that the greater the circle of light, the greater the boundary of darkness by which it is surrounded.

Percy Bysshe Shelley photo

“She faded, like a cloud which had outwept its rain.”

St. X
Adonais (1821)
Context: Lost Angel of a ruined Paradise!
She knew not 'twas her own; as with no stain
She faded, like a cloud which had outwept its rain.

Black Elk photo

“When a vision comes from the thunder beings of the West, it comes with terror like a thunder storm; but when the storm of vision has passed, the world is greener and happier; for wherever the truth of vision comes upon the world, it is like a rain.”

Black Elk (1863–1950) Oglala Lakota leader

Black Elk Speaks (1961)
Context: When a vision comes from the thunder beings of the West, it comes with terror like a thunder storm; but when the storm of vision has passed, the world is greener and happier; for wherever the truth of vision comes upon the world, it is like a rain. The world, you see, is happier after the terror of the storm. … you have noticed that truth comes into this world with two faces. One is sad with suffering, and the other laughs; but it is the same face, laughing or weeping. … as lightning illuminates the dark, for it is the power of lightning that heyokas have.

Ikkyu photo

“If it rains, let it rain, if the wind blows, let it blow.”

Ikkyu (1394–1481) Japanese Buddhist monk

As quoted in The Essence of Zen : Zen Buddhism for Every Day and Every Moment (2002) by Mark Levon Byrne, p. 28.
Context: From the world of passions returning to the world of passions:
There is a moment's pause.
If it rains, let it rain, if the wind blows, let it blow.

Stephen King photo

“I'm rightly tired of the pain I hear and feel, boss. I'm tired of bein on the road, lonely as a robin in the rain.”

The Green Mile (1996)
Context: I'm rightly tired of the pain I hear and feel, boss. I'm tired of bein on the road, lonely as a robin in the rain. Not never havin no buddy to go on with or tell me where we's comin from or goin' to or why. I'm tired of people bein ugly to each other. It feels like pieces of glass in my head. I'm tired of all the times I've wanted to help and couldn't. I'm tired of bein in the dark. Mostly it's the pain. There's too much. If I could end it, I would. But I cain't.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley photo

“My greatest pleasure was the enjoyment of a serene sky amidst these verdant woods: yet I loved all the changes of Nature; and rain, and storm, and the beautiful clouds of heaven brought their delights with them.”

Matilda (1819)
Context: My greatest pleasure was the enjoyment of a serene sky amidst these verdant woods: yet I loved all the changes of Nature; and rain, and storm, and the beautiful clouds of heaven brought their delights with them. When rocked by the waves of the lake my spirits rose in triumph as a horseman feels with pride the motions of his high fed steed.
But my pleasures arose from the contemplation of nature alone, I had no companion: my warm affections finding no return from any other human heart were forced to run waste on inanimate objects.

Andrew Jackson photo

“There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing.”

Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) American general and politician, 7th president of the United States

Veto Mesage Regarding the Bank of the United States http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/ajveto01.asp (10 July 1832).
1830s
Context: It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society — the farmers, mechanics, and laborers — who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government. There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing.

Billie Joe Armstrong photo
Zendaya photo
Eratosthenes photo

“Eratosthenes declares that it is no longer necessary to inquire as to the cause of the overflow of the Nile, since we know definitely that men have come to the sources of the Nile and have observed the rains there.”

Eratosthenes (-276–-194 BC) ancient Greek scientist

Proclus, Timaeus, Vol. 1, 121.8-11 (Diehl); quoted in Morris R. Cohen and I. E. Drabkin, A Sourcebook in Greek Science (1948), 383.
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Jackson Browne photo
Socrates photo

“Did I not say that Xanthippe was thundering now, and would soon rain?”

Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher

Diogenes Laertius

Rumi photo

“Raise your words, not voice.
It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”

Rumi (1207–1273) Iranian poet

https://twitter.com/wise_chimp/status/1488946174321205253?s=21

Tom DeLonge photo

“She makes me feel like it's raining outside”

Tom DeLonge (1975) American rock musician

da "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket")

George MacDonald photo
Markus Zusak photo

“Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out, like the rain. (p. 85)”

Variant: The words were on their way, and when they arrived, she would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain.
Source: The Book Thief

Ingmar Bergman photo
Frances Hodgson Burnett photo
William Carlos Williams photo
Lance Armstrong photo
Jack Kerouac photo
F. Scott Fitzgerald photo
Jack Kerouac photo

“beautiful insane
in the rain”

Source: The Subterraneans

Max Brooks photo
Noel Coward photo
Cormac McCarthy photo
Azar Nafisi photo
Woody Allen photo

“I like the rain. It washes memories off the sidewalk of life.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Source: Manhattan

Janet Fitch photo
Haruki Murakami photo
Barbara Kingsolver photo
Jeffrey Eugenides photo
Jonathan Coe photo
Sherman Alexie photo
Milan Kundera photo
Richard Brautigan photo

“I’ll affect you slowly
as if you were having a picnic in a dream.
There will be no ants.
It won’t rain.”

Richard Brautigan (1935–1984) American novelist, poet, and short story writer

Source: Loading Mercury With a Pitchfork

Henry David Thoreau photo
Jeffrey Eugenides photo
Ernest Hemingway photo
Tim Gunn photo

“Just the way it never rains when you have an umbrella, you'll never run into people if you look fantastic. But go outside in pajamas, and you'll run into every ex you have.”

Tim Gunn (1953) American actor and fashion consultant

Source: Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work

Dorothea Mackellar photo
Rachel Cohn photo
Haruki Murakami photo

“I’m just kinda tired. Like a monkey in the rain.”

Source: Norwegian Wood

Robert Frost photo

“The rain to the wind said,
'You push and I'll pelt.'
They so smote the garden bed.
That the flowers actually knelt,
And lay lodged -- though not dead.
I know how the flowers felt.”

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet

Variant: The rain to the wind said,
You push and I'll pelt.'
They so smote the garden bed
That the flowers actually knelt,
And lay lodged--though not dead.
I know how the flowers felt.
Source: The Poetry of Robert Frost

Tom Waits photo

“Got a head full of lightning, a hat full of rain.”

Tom Waits (1949) American singer-songwriter and actor
Cassandra Clare photo
E.E. Cummings photo

“She is sugar, curiosity, and rain.”

Source: We Were Liars

Robert Frost photo
Gabriel García Márquez photo
Gustave Flaubert photo

“Singin' in the Rain was most excellent if you like movies where people burst into song and tap-dance. Which I do, though not as much as I like movies where people don't.”

E. Lockhart (1967) American writer of novels as E. Lockhart (mainly for teenage girls) and of picture books under real name Emily J…

Source: The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them

Elizabeth Knox photo
Jim Butcher photo

“It rained toads the day the White Council came to town.”

Source: Summer Knight

“It's raining, Annie.”

Source: Annie on My Mind

Haruki Murakami photo
Michael Cunningham photo
Robert Frost photo

“Oh, come forth into the storm and rout
And be my love in the rain.”

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet

Variant: Come over the hills and far with me
And be my love in the rain.
Source: Complete Poems Of Robert Frost, 1949

Stephen King photo
Clint Eastwood photo
Pablo Neruda photo
Diana Vreeland photo
Jennifer Donnelly photo
Haruki Murakami photo
Ernest Hemingway photo
Haruki Murakami photo
Ernesto Che Guevara photo
A.A. Milne photo

“Tut, Tut, looks like rain”

A.A. Milne (1882–1956) British author
Jim Morrison photo

“There may be a time when we'll attend Weather Theatres to recall the sensation of rain.”

Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors

Source: The Lords and The New Creatures

William Gibson photo
F. Scott Fitzgerald photo