“The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.”

“The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows - a wall against the wind.”

“. . . At Ghent the wind rose.There was a smell of rain and a heavy dragOf wind in the hedges but not as the wind blowsOver fresh water when the waves lagFoaming and the willows huddle and it will rain . . .”

“Willow Mosby, when I look at you, all of the broken pieces fit back together.”

“When we long for life without difficulty, remind us that oaks grow strong under contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.”

“Lord, thy children are jaded, and their ears go flat with sound. Marveling in the thunder rumbling of thy voice no longer - they hear not, and the omens of the white gull and the flayed oak are as naught to their purblind sight. The prophecy in the thunder, the foreshadowings of the leaves quivering white, the dismay of the grass bent in the merciless wind are naught, lord.”