Water Quotes From Women
By Jim Lauria
As many of my followers know, I have been writing about the connection between women and water for a long time. Here is an excerpt from a post I wrote a number of years ago, A Valentine to Women Who Keep the Water Flowing…
… the female connection to water goes far beyond the symbolism found in literature and legend, well past the traditional symbolic links between women and the tides. In the developing countries of the world, right now, there are millions of women hauling water for their families from distant wells, rivers, and lakes. According to the United Nations Population Fund, they’re walking an average of 6 km — 3.7 miles — per day to collect water. (Water weighs 8 pounds per gallon. Think about carrying a bucket of it for miles.) In conflict zones around the world, from Darfur to Latin America, they are risking their very lives as they walk those dangerous miles for water — and they’re carrying life itself back to their families...
So, for today, International Women’s Day, here are my favorite water quotes from women:
- “No water, no life. No blue, no green.” – Sylvia Earle
- “I want to be like water. I want to slip through fingers, but hold up ships.” – Michelle Williams
- “All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was." – Toni Morrison
- "We are beginning to learn that our brains are hardwired to react positively to water and that being near it can calm and connect us, increase innovation and insight, and even heal what’s broken." – Celine Cousteau
- “Water, is taught by thirst...” – Emily Dickinson
- “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.” – Isak Dinesen
- “In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference.” – Rachel Carson
- “Water is life, and clean water means health.” – Audrey Hepburn
- “One of the challenges is that water efficiency isn’t sexy. People just don’t perceive that we need to use water more wisely…until we run out.” – Betsy Otto
- “Honor the river, stream, lake, or well that makes possible your life, your town, or your city.” – Gail Thomas
- “A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and only herself.” – Maya Angelou
- "There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them." – Sylvia Plath
- “It's a relief to hear the rain. It's the sound of billions of drops, all equal, all equally committed to falling, like a sudden outbreak of democracy. Water, when it hits the ground, instantly becomes a puddle or rivulet or flood.” – Alice Oswald
- “A drop of water, if it could write out its own history, would explain the universe to us.” – Lucy Larcom
- Water is personal, water is local, water is regional, water is statewide. Everybody has a different idea, a different approach, a different issue, a different concern. Water is the most personal issue we have…” – Susan Marks
- “Water symbolizes everything that is fresh and renewed and transformed in us as human beings.” – Isabel Allende
- “The formula for water is H2O. Is the formula for an ice cube H2O squared?” – Lily Tomlin
- “Every drop in the ocean counts.” – Yoko Ono
- “What is the vitality and necessity of clean water? Ask the man who is ill, and who is lifting his lips to the cup. Ask the forest.” – Mary Oliver
And finally, from Margaret Atwood and her novella The Penelopiad…
- “Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.”
If you have any quotes to add, please post them in the comments section.
Thanks and please check out the other posts from my series “Water Quotes from…”
Water Quotes from U.S. Presidents
Water Quotes from Famous People
Water Quotes from Movies and Films
Water Quotes from Chinese Teachings