There are many quotes and sayings that relate to the elements. One that recently came foremost to my mind was the expression ‘come rain, hail or shine’, which means that you will do something whatever happens. I would like to dedicate this post to images and quotes that refer to the elements – in recognition and appreciation of their ever present presence in our lives.
The connection to hail was sparked by experiencing a storm like I’d never done before. I was able to look almost vertically into the hail which seemed to be falling in slow motion. The actual event was much more frenetic but somehow looking from underneath made time seem to go slower.
A hail storm in March 2015. Looking up (well almost) into the hail made it seem to slow down as it made its way to the earth. This photo is side on as I was unable to take one directly upwards. Too wet!
This abstract image captures the intense sheets of rain that accompanied the hail storm pictured above. March 2015.
Where there is rain you may be lucky enough to see a rainbow – a beautiful, colourful expression of the elements. In the last few weeks I’ve been fortunate to see many rainbows. Some soft and diffuse, others arching high over the earth, some double rainbows even. Ah, the wonders of nature.
The yachts dance in the wind as the diffuse rainbow behind them lights up the sky.
This was the most common rainbow quote I found doing a Google search. Source: http://www.hsconline-blog.com
Other quotes and images related to the elements follow. Not surprisingly the quotes often relate to the ‘human condition’. These are only the tip of the iceberg (another saying – which means only the part you can observe, not the rest which is hidden), so to speak! I’d be interested to hear of other elemental quotes and idioms that inspire you or make you think. The elements also appear in many song and book titles. I started to address the former links in my post ‘Musical elements‘. The latter connection is a work in progress as there are literally hundreds of book titles with elemental themes!
The tip of an iceberg, Greenland (I couldn’t resist putting this in!).
Fire in the belly – ready to fight with energy and determination for what you believe is right.
This was my favourite on-line image of the many available for the expression ‘Fire in the belly’. The show was a fundraiser for a performer suffering from cancer. Source: http://www.soundry.net
Water under the bridge – something that belongs to the past and isn’t important or troubling any more.
There is a lot of water going under this very large, and very famous, bridge. Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia.
Salt of the earth – basic, fundamental goodness; the phrase can be used to describe any simple, good person.
Aerial view of sea water drying in salt pans to become the salt of the earth, near Karratha, Western Australia.
Take a deep breath – to pause; to try and make yourself feel strong and confident. A common quote that uses this phrase is ‘Take a deep breath. It’s just a bad day, not a bad life.” Interesting!
Taking time to enjoy simple pleasures such as the beauty of flowers can help us pause, take a deep breath and reflect.
Any port in a storm – any solution to a difficult situation is better than none.
A port during this storm off the Greenland coast would have been very welcome. Now I know what they mean by the expression “confused seas’.
Fire up Water down 
Bringing our attention to the way that we so often refer to the elements via our favourite quotes is a great way to remind us of how integral the elemental world is for us. I’ll see how I go in coming up with some other examples. In the short term I could only come up with lines from songs, such as ‘the answer is written on the wind’ and ‘get your hands dirty’. (The second is a bit more obscure but clearly earth related.)
Maybe you could create a post that explores the elemental themes in songs? 🙂
It’s good to remind ourselves of how elemental our world is, as you say. A few months ago I wrote a post called ‘Musical elements’ which started to list some of the songs that had elemental themes. Yours could be added to them. I will put a link to that post in the current one now as posts written in the past can get lost in the mists of time!
There is also the classic, Take a breath and smell the Roses. Beautiful Images, great subject, keep up the education of the masses about the elements.