56 Storm Quotes To Weather the Storm and Emerge Stronger

Storms are a period of extreme weather caused by atmospheric disturbances. A storm's intensity ranges, making it somewhat unpredictable, similar to the feelings a stormy cloud provokes through lashing rain. In this article, we’ll explore a curated selection of some of the best storm quotes that talk about the storm's power and its effects on our lives and feelings.

If you’re a lover of the arts and literature, you’ll also find our selection of quotes about storms from books and films. 

Part of our nature involves facing storms. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “dignity of human nature requires that we must face the storms of life.” The storms of life show up in many ways, from person to person.

Related read: For more about the weather, you might also like our rain quotes and water quotes.

Quick links to our selections of quotes about storms:

Best Storm Quotes

Stormy weather is often chaotic and dangerous, and the weather can sometimes cause destruction. When severe storms hit, we know that it's important to stay safe and indoors.  Although with the storm coming, we often feel agitated, there’s a lot to learn from this condition. 

Although rainstorms and the like can be dangerous, they also represent a part of nature’s processes. When we think of storms, we often picture a threatening situation. In this same way, we can reflect on how stormy times impact us. 

As thunderstorms roll in, we can look toward the brighter days that will come with the storms passing rather than lose hope. After the storm, we often find a beautiful rainbow that is a reminder that challenging situations or times of crisis will pass.

Also, rather than waiting for the storm to strike, we can take time to enjoy life’s clearer moments as they roll by. Let’s explore some of our favorite quotes about storms.

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky."
- Rabindranath Tagore

"Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm."
- Charles Caleb Colton

"I love the smell right after a storm."
- Elijah Wood

"No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm."
- Charles Kettering

"Storms don't come to teach us painful lessons, rather they were meant to wash us clean."
- Shannon L. Alder

Storm quotes and the environment

A dove struggling in a storm grows stronger than an eagle soaring in the sunshine.

~ Matshona Dhliwayo

We often experience various natural changes - the storm is one such. This section explores some quotes about storms and their presence in nature.

"Like many animals, wild ponies can sense a drop in barometric pressure. When a storm threatens, they know to seek shelter in hilly areas and huddle together with their rumps facing the oncoming wind."
- Diane Ackerman

"A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease."
- John Muir

"When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty."
- John Muir

"The whole climate is changing: the winds, the ocean currents, the storm patterns, snow packs, snowmelt, flooding, droughts. Temperature is just a bit of it."
- John Holdren

Storm quotes about life and living.

Don’t wait for the storms of your life to pass. Learn to dance in the rain.

~ Steve Rizzo

Life is not always sunshine and rainbows. This applies both literally and metaphorically. The same way the weather never stays the same is the same way our life circumstances change.

As Bill Hybels said, “Storms draw something out of us that calm seas don't.” Stormy situations can serve us various lessons about life and living. When stormy situations come up, they often shake things up in our lives. We can either wallow in these situations and the flooding rain or look towards a brighter day.

Although some disturbances can be extremely tough to deal with, the storm is also a reminder that these times don’t last. As we strive to maintain a positive attitude through the storm, we can also pay attention to specific lessons.

Serenity isn’t the peace away from the storm, it’s the peace at the eye of the storm.

~ Ed Martin

Storms make trees take deeper roots.

~ Dolly Parton

"Storms draw something out of us that calm seas don't."
- Bill Hybels

"Dignity of human nature requires that we must face the storms of life."
- Mahatma Gandhi

"Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm."
- Marcus Garvey

"Like all of us in this storm between birth and death, I can wreak no great changes on the world, only small changes for the better, I hope, in the lives of those I love."
- Dean Koontz

"There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm."
- Willa Cather

"If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine."
- Morris West

"If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm."
- Mahatma Gandhi

"I pass my life in preventing the storm from blowing down the tent, and I drive in the pegs as fast as they are pulled up."
- Abraham Lincoln

"You can learn to prevent a storm, or you can learn to ride the storm. If you learn to ride the storm, the storm is not a problem anymore."
- Jaggi Vasudev

"When the storm rips you to pieces, you get to decide how to put yourself back together again."
- Bryant H. McGill

Sometimes the greatest storms bring out the greatest beauty…Life can be a storm, but your hope is a rainbow and your friends and family are the gold.

~ Steve Maraboli

After the storm quotes

Concerning life situations, storms can show up to cleanse problems rather than cause chaos. Even amidst the chaos, we can strive to find peace as we navigate life. Here, we feature some quotes about storms that reflect what it means to live through chaos. You can take inspiration from these quotes about after the storm and seek brighter days despite the dark times.

"No storm can last forever. It will never rain 365 days consecutively. Keep in mind that trouble comes to pass, not to stay. Don't worry! No storm, not even the one in your life, can last forever."
- Iyanla Vanzant

"Every storm runs out of rain, just like every dark night turns into day."
- Gary Allan Running

"After a storm comes a calm."
- Matthew Henry

"After every storm the sun will smile; for every problem there is a solution, and the soul's indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer."
- William R. Alger

"Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?"
- Rose Kennedy

"Once you go through something and come out of the storm, you've been tested."
- Shaun Livingston

For each thorn, there’s a rosebud… For each twilight – a dawn… For each trial – the strength to carry on, For each storm cloud – a rainbow… For each shadow – the sun… For each parting – sweet memories when sorrow is done.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Inspirational quotes about feeling in the midst of the storm

It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

~ Frederick Douglass

In order to realize the worth of the anchor we need to feel the stress of the storm.

~ Corrie Ten Boom

"Sorrows gather around great souls as storms do around mountains; but, like them, they break the storm and purify the air of the plain beneath them."
- Jean Paul

"The only safe ship in a storm is leadership."
- Faye Wattleton

"It is only in sorrow bad weather masters us; in joy we face the storm and defy it."
- Amelia Barr

"When you are in the middle of a storm cloud it's hard to think outside of it, but the only way out of the storm is to ride through it and things will be a lot clearer on the other side."
- Jodi Ann Bickley

In the midst of the storm, your lifeboat appears. A psalm, a hymn, a word… calming the fiercest winds of the soul.

~ Roderick L. Evans

It was a dark and stormy night.

~ Madeleine L'Engle

Sayings and quotes about the strength and power of storms

The storm rising sometimes has a distinct beauty. It causes many elements to shift. For instance, we can watch as the tree leaves and branches dance to the tune of the wind. The storm can also serve as a reminder of the clear skies to come. Here are some quotes about storms and their beauty.

The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides and in its depths, it has its pearls too.

~ Vincent Van Gogh

I know well that the greater and more beautiful the work is, the more terrible will be the storms that rage against it.

~ Mary Faustina Kowalska

Related: You might also like our selection of wind quotes.

"Ride the storm. Cheer wildly. Gather strength from life's storms."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

"The storm's mission is to remove the pink glasses from our eyes and to make us see the universe in its realistic form! And what is the reality? The reality is that the universe is a heaven of danger!"
- Mehmet Murat ildan

"The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore."
- Vincent Van Gogh

"A tree with strong roots can withstand the most violent storm, but the tree can't grow roots just as the storm appears on the horizon."
- Dalai Lama

"Remember, the storm is a good opportunity for the pine and the cypress to show their strength and their stability."
- Ho Chi Minh

"The more violent the storm, the quicker it passes."
- Paulo Coelho

"If only a horrible storm can demolish the castle of the devil, then let the storm be victorious! It is not uncommon that heaven comes after hell."
- Mehmet Murat Ildan

Weathering the Storm quotes

Difficult situations in life require us to navigate through them to better times. When someone weathers the storm, they deal with a difficult situation and come out the other side. We can also assimilate it as successfully getting through a challenging period.

The storm often teaches us important lessons rather than just being a disturbance. When you weather the storm, you can learn to handle complex problems or periods better and still come out strong. If you are looking for some inspiration, here are some of the best quotes about weathering the storm. 

Thunderstorms are as much as our friends as the sunshine.

~ Criss Jami

"Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come."
- Robert H. Schuller

"Those who want to row on the ocean of human knowledge do not get far, and the storm drives those out of their course who set sail."
- Franz Grillparzer

"It doesn't matter what people say about me, I weather the storm."
- Terrell Owens

When you walk through the storm, hold your head high, And don’t be afraid of the dark! At the end of the storm is a golden sky And the sweet song of the lark. Walk on through the wind Walk on through the rain Though your dreams be tossed & blown Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart And you’ll never walk alone!

~ Douglas Adams

The storm is an artist; the rainbow is its masterpiece.

~ Matshona Dhliwayo

When thunderstorms roll in, you make a choice to either succumb with tears to the gloomy downpour or smile and look for rainbows.

~ Richelle E. Goodrich

Don’t let the rain drive you to the wrong shelter; the shade can turn out to be your protector and also your destroyer, and sometimes the rain is the perfect protector from the rain.

~ Michael Bassey Johnson

Some might try to escape. Others might attempt to batten down the hatches and ride out the storm in a safe haven.

~ Cullen Bunn

The human heart is like a ship on a stormy sea driven about by winds blowing from all four corners of heaven.

~ Martin Luther King, Jr

When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about.

~ Haruki Murakami