--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Because of the wind, the crows were…" description: "\"“Because of the wind, the crows were pointing in one direction but traveling in another. I wondered if they knew it, and, knowing it, understood it, or..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cd/robert-crais-9313_unseen-forces_because-of-the-wind-the-crows-were-point_2182395.jpg" --- # Because of the wind, the crows were pointing in one… ![“Because of the wind, the crows were pointing in one direction but traveling in another. I wondered if they knew it, and, knowing it, understood it, or if they were simply oblivious, carried along by a force that was felt but not seen. The same thing happens to people, but most of the time they…” quote by Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cd/robert-crais-9313_unseen-forces_because-of-the-wind-the-crows-were-point_2182395.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cd/robert-crais-9313_unseen-forces_because-of-the-wind-the-crows-were-point_2182395.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cd/robert-crais-9313_unseen-forces_because-of-the-wind-the-crows-were-point_2182395.jpg) > ““Because of the wind, the crows were pointing in one direction but traveling in another. I wondered if they knew it, and, knowing it, understood it, or if they were simply oblivious, carried along by a force that was felt but not seen. The same thing happens to people, but most of the time they don't know it, or when they know it, they think it an action of their own devising. They are usually wrong.”” [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People often mistake external forces for personal agency, leading to misinterpretation of their own actions. **In simple terms:** We misread external influence as our own. Key Takeaway Question the source of your motivations. Themes self-awareness agency perception illusion control Mood reflective introspective Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career decisions - political choices - personal relationships - creative projects - financial planning Key Concepts psychology philosophy behavioral science Questions to Reflect On - What forces shape your choices? - How can you distinguish influence from intention? A Different Perspective Self‑deception can be hard to detect. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) [Crows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crows/) [Unseen forces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unseen-forces/) ## Related quotes > [“She wondered what he looked like with his hat off and wondered again if he knew he was funny.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elmore-leonard/she-wondered-what-he-looked-like-with-his-hat-off-and-wondered-again/) [Elmore Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elmore-leonard/) > [“I wondered if he knew how he controlled my heartbeats.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brittainy-c-cherry/i-wondered-if-he-knew-how-he-controlled-my-heartbeats/) [Brittainy C. Cherry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brittainy-c-cherry/) > [“I wondered whether he ever knew that no gift will ever buy back a man's love when you have removed his self-love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-wondered-whether-he-ever-knew-that-no-gift-will-ever-buy-back-a-man/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“She wondered what, if anything, she knew about love. Not much, perhaps, but enough to know that what she would do for him now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viet-thanh-nguyen/she-wondered-what-if-anything-she-knew-about-love-not-much-perhaps/) [Viet Thanh Nguyen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viet-thanh-nguyen/) > [“The Crows of the region could have told them that there are almost always more Crows around them than they can see; but like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-crowley/the-crows-of-the-region-could-have-told-them-that-there-are-almost/) [John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/) > [If you want to fly with the eagles you can't hang out with the crows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-lesnar/if-you-want-to-fly-with-the-eagles-you-can-t-hang-out-with-the-crows/) [Brock Lesnar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-lesnar/) > [Paraphrased: When Chuang Tzu was about to die, his disciples began planning a splendid funeral. However some disciples expressed concern that given a particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zhuangzi/paraphrased-when-chuang-tzu-was-about-to-die-his-disciples-began/) [Zhuangzi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zhuangzi/) > [“A witch is a person who can attract and manipulate unseen forces,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/a-witch-is-a-person-who-can-attract-and-manipulate-unseen-forces/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [I know that much of the structure and plan of the universe is beyond my understanding and not at all similar to anything of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosemary-altea/i-know-that-much-of-the-structure-and-plan-of-the-universe-is-beyond/) [Rosemary Altea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosemary-altea/) > [To work magic is to weave the unseen forces into form; to soar beyond sight; to explore the uncharted dream realm of the hidden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/starhawk/to-work-magic-is-to-weave-the-unseen-forces-into-form-to-soar-beyond/) [Starhawk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/starhawk/) > [To work magic is to weave the unseen forces into form; to soar beyond sight; to explore the uncharted dream realm of the hidden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/starhawk/to-work-magic-is-to-weave-the-unseen-forces-into-form-to-soar-beyond-2/) [Starhawk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/starhawk/) > [Unfortunately, the simplest things - such as thinking for myself, creating my own reality and being whatever the hell I want to be each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-boyd/unfortunately-the-simplest-things-such-as-thinking-for-myself/) [Brandon Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-boyd/) > [“This world spins from the same unseen forces that twist our hearts.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mitchell/this-world-spins-from-the-same-unseen-forces-that-twist-our-hearts/) [David Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mitchell/) > [Gail Anderson-Dargatz has a noticing eye, a voice as unique as the countryside she writes about, and a heart large enough to love her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-hodgins/gail-anderson-dargatz-has-a-noticing-eye-a-voice-as-unique-as-the/) Jack Hodgins > [The specter of color is apparent even when it goes unmentioned, and it is all too often the unseen force that influences public policy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-john/the-specter-of-color-is-apparent-even-when-it-goes-unmentioned-and-it/) [Dr. John](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-john/) ## More by Robert Crais > [I really strive to bring something new to each book. I don't want to write the same book over and over again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/i-really-strive-to-bring-something-new-to-each-book-i-don-t-want-to/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [Dogs give us something just as we give something to them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/dogs-give-us-something-just-as-we-give-something-to-them/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [My books come to me in images, and sometimes the image is at the beginning of the book, and sometimes it's simply a flash…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/my-books-come-to-me-in-images-and-sometimes-the-image-is-at-the/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [People want you to be ordinary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/people-want-you-to-be-ordinary/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [Pike put down the cat. He slid from Pike's arms like molasses and puddled at his feet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/pike-put-down-the-cat-he-slid-from-pike-s-arms-like-molasses-and/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [“The best dog training was based on the reward system. You did not punish a dog for doing wrong, you rewarded the dog for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/the-best-dog-training-was-based-on-the-reward-system-you-did-not/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [I write characters and stories that move me, and I write from the heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/i-write-characters-and-stories-that-move-me-and-i-write-from-the-heart/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [I love, love writing about Los Angeles. I love exploring every part of it. And I find, rather than a burden, it's actually one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/i-love-love-writing-about-los-angeles-i-love-exploring-every-part-of/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [My fiction is almost always inspired by a character's need or desire to rise above him- or herself. No one is perfect and some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/my-fiction-is-almost-always-inspired-by-a-character-s-need-or-desire/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [It's easy to sound good. All you do is leave in the parts where you act tough and forget the parts where you get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/it-s-easy-to-sound-good-all-you-do-is-leave-in-the-parts-where-you/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [My family was all police and hard hats at the refineries; they didn't know what to think about me. So I became a closet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/my-family-was-all-police-and-hard-hats-at-the-refineries-they-didn-t/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [When dogs fulfill their roles they are ecstatically happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/when-dogs-fulfill-their-roles-they-are-ecstatically-happy/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [I admire people who re-create themselves. And it seems to me that what gives us all the opportunity to be heroic in our own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/i-admire-people-who-re-create-themselves-and-it-seems-to-me-that-what/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [Some of us find our way with a single light to guide us; others lose themselves even when the star field is as sharp…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/some-of-us-find-our-way-with-a-single-light-to-guide-us-others-lose/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) > [I was digging for stuff in a used bookstore, and I came upon 'Little Sister.' I fell in love with Chandler that night. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/i-was-digging-for-stuff-in-a-used-bookstore-and-i-came-upon-little/) [Robert Crais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) [Explore all 71 Robert Crais quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/) ## More Bird quotes > [And I have been very blessed, having coached some of the greatest that have ever played the game. But if I had to start…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/red-auerbach/and-i-have-been-very-blessed-having-coached-some-of-the-greatest-that/) [Red Auerbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/red-auerbach/) > [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [Set the bird's wings with gold and it will never again soar in thesky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/set-the-bird-s-wings-with-gold-and-it-will-never-again-soar-in-thesky/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [“He unfixes the metal notch and slips his hand around the body of the bird. Feels its heat, its small heart beating. He stares…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nina-schuyler/he-unfixes-the-metal-notch-and-slips-his-hand-around-the-body-of-the/) Nina Schuyler > [I would rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach 10,000 stars how not to dance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/i-would-rather-learn-from-one-bird-how-to-sing-than-to-teach-10-000/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [Can you imagine any better example of divine creative accomplishment that the consummate flying machine that is a bird? The skeleton, very flexible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-murchie/can-you-imagine-any-better-example-of-divine-creative-accomplishment/) [Guy Murchie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-murchie/) > [Surely, God could have caused birds to fly with their bones made of solid gold, with their veins full of quicksilver, with their flesh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/galileo-galilei/surely-god-could-have-caused-birds-to-fly-with-their-bones-made-of/) [Galileo Galilei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/galileo-galilei/) > [And wheresoever, in his rich creation, Sweet music breathes--in wave, or bird, or soul-- 'Tis but the faint and far reverberation Of that great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-sargent-osgood/and-wheresoever-in-his-rich-creation-sweet-music-breathes-in-wave-or/) [Frances Sargent Osgood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-sargent-osgood/) > [A clock struck out the hour of twelve, and the bird in the hedgerow was still singing as we marched out to the roadway,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-macgill/a-clock-struck-out-the-hour-of-twelve-and-the-bird-in-the-hedgerow/) [Patrick MacGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-macgill/) > [Every wife ought to answer for her man. If the husband be engaged in a seditious club, or drinks mysterious healths, or be frugal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/every-wife-ought-to-answer-for-her-man-if-the-husband-be-engaged-in-a/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/meanwhile-the-trees-were-just-as-green-as-before-the-birds-sang-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [When they started to drain a swamp where birds and fish had lived, for a new housing development down the road from his apartment,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/when-they-started-to-drain-a-swamp-where-birds-and-fish-had-lived-for/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [The bird with the thorn in its breast, it follows an immutable law; it is driven by it knows not what to impale itself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colleen-mccullough/the-bird-with-the-thorn-in-its-breast-it-follows-an-immutable-law-it/) [Colleen McCullough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colleen-mccullough/) > [Real like sucks the life out of losers. if you want to fuck with the eagles, you must learn how to fly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/real-like-sucks-the-life-out-of-losers-if-you-want-to-fuck-with-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“If we studied birds ,maybe we could learn to be free.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-alire-s-enz/if-we-studied-birds-maybe-we-could-learn-to-be-free/) [Benjamin Alire Sáenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-alire-s-enz/) [Browse all 4,802 Bird quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Because of the wind, the crows were pointing in one direction but traveling in another. I wondered if they knew it, and, knowing it, understood it, or if they were simply oblivious, carried along by a force that was felt but not seen. The same thing happens to people, but most of the time they don't know it, or when they know it, they think it an action of their own devising. They are usually wrong.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Crais" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/because-of-the-wind-the-crows-were-pointing-in-one-direction-but/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bird" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/because-of-the-wind-the-crows-were-pointing-in-one-direction-but/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cd/robert-crais-9313_unseen-forces_because-of-the-wind-the-crows-were-point_2182395.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cd/robert-crais-9313_unseen-forces_because-of-the-wind-the-crows-were-point_2182395.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cd/robert-crais-9313_unseen-forces_because-of-the-wind-the-crows-were-point_2182395.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Because of the wind, the crows were pointing in one direction but traveling in another. I wondered if they…” — Robert Crais", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Robert Crais", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-crais/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Because of the wind, the crows...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/because-of-the-wind-the-crows-were-pointing-in-one-direction-but/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-crais/because-of-the-wind-the-crows-were-pointing-in-one-direction-but/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```