Winter, Willa Cather

Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen.

- Willa Cather (1873-1947)

Winter, William Bradford

And for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms.

- William Bradford (Plymouth Colony governor, 1590-1657)

Winter, Albert Camus

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.

- Albert Camus (1913-1960)

Winter, Charles Kingsley

Every winter, When the great sun has turned his face away, The earth goes down into a vale of grief, And fasts, and weeps, and shrouds herself in sables, Leaving her wedding-garlands to decay-- Then leaps in spring to his returning kisses.

- Charles Kingsley (1819-1875)

Sun, African Proverb

The sun is the king of torches.

- West African proverb

West African proverb, quoted in Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages : Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically (1887) by Robert Christy, p. 322

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/African_proverbs
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Category:Proverbs

Vocation, Book of Isaiah

Yet just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,

So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me empty,
but shall do what pleases me,
achieving the end for which I sent it.

+ The Book of Isaiah 55,10-11

http://www.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/55