--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Like a stone tossed into a flock of…" description: "\"“Like a stone tossed into a flock of birds, talk startled swiftly into flight whenever the new postmaster was mentioned.”\" — Sarah Blake" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03a/sarah-blake-30827_bird_like-a-stone-tossed-into-a-flock-of-bird_334830.jpg" --- # Like a stone tossed into a flock of birds, talk startled… ![“Like a stone tossed into a flock of birds, talk startled swiftly into flight whenever the new postmaster was mentioned.” quote by Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03a/sarah-blake-30827_bird_like-a-stone-tossed-into-a-flock-of-bird_334830.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03a/sarah-blake-30827_bird_like-a-stone-tossed-into-a-flock-of-bird_334830.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03a/sarah-blake-30827_bird_like-a-stone-tossed-into-a-flock-of-bird_334830.jpg) > ““Like a stone tossed into a flock of birds, talk startled swiftly into flight whenever the new postmaster was mentioned.”” [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Mentioning the new postmaster triggers chaotic reactions, likened to birds scattering. **In simple terms:** People panic at change, scattering like startled birds. Key Takeaway Manage change with calm communication. Themes change fear communication social dynamics Mood concerned analytical Type reflective pragmatic When to use this quote - organizational restructuring - policy announcements - public health alerts Key Concepts panic response group behavior leadership Questions to Reflect On - How can leaders reduce panic? - What signals calm stability? A Different Perspective Not all reactions are irrational; some are rational caution. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) ## Related quotes > [I am not into the unrealistic realm of magic realism where birds talk.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/i-am-not-into-the-unrealistic-realm-of-magic-realism-where-birds-talk/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. 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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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [“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 > [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/) > [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/) > [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/) ## More by Sarah Blake > [“We can't change what is coming. Something is always coming.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/we-can-t-change-what-is-coming-something-is-always-coming/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“Long ago, I believed that, given a choice, peple would turn to good as they would turn to light. I believed that reporting-honest, unflinching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/long-ago-i-believed-that-given-a-choice-peple-would-turn-to-good-as/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“All love stories beget ghost stories.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/all-love-stories-beget-ghost-stories/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“And one day I got it. I lifted my head from the child's chest I was listening to and realized, with a shock of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/and-one-day-i-got-it-i-lifted-my-head-from-the-child-s-chest-i-was/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“She imagined she could pull Time like taffy, stretching it longer and longer between her hands until the finest point had been reached, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/she-imagined-she-could-pull-time-like-taffy-stretching-it-longer-and/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“It is the story that lies around the edges of the photographs, or at the end of newspaper account. It's about the lies we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/it-is-the-story-that-lies-around-the-edges-of-the-photographs-or-at/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“A woman will be loved...in proportion as she makes those around her happy...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/a-woman-will-be-loved-in-proportion-as-she-makes-those-around-her/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“It gets you thinking about all the parts in a story we never see" --he cleared his throat-- "the parts around the edges. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/it-gets-you-thinking-about-all-the-parts-in-a-story-we-never-see-he/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“And then Frankie understood that the boy was going on alone. Perhaps there had been only one sponsor in another country for the child.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/and-then-frankie-understood-that-the-boy-was-going-on-alone-perhaps/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“ONE DAY SOMEONE you saw every day was there and the next he was not. This was the only way Frankie had found to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/one-day-someone-you-saw-every-day-was-there-and-the-next-he-was-not/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“Some stories don't get told. Some stories you hold on to. To stand and watch and hold it in your arms was not cowardice.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/some-stories-don-t-get-told-some-stories-you-hold-on-to-to-stand-and/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“Bombers flew above the wattles, over an England filled with songs of linnets and thrush. There were things being broken we had no American…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/bombers-flew-above-the-wattles-over-an-england-filled-with-songs-of/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“It began, as it often does, with a woman putting her ducks in a row.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/it-began-as-it-often-does-with-a-woman-putting-her-ducks-in-a-row/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“every story - love or war - is a story about looking left when we should have been looking right.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/every-story-love-or-war-is-a-story-about-looking-left-when-we-should/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) > [“Sand was dribbling out of the bag of her attention, faster and faster.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/sand-was-dribbling-out-of-the-bag-of-her-attention-faster-and-faster/) [Sarah Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) [Explore all 17 Sarah Blake quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/) ## 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": "“Like a stone tossed into a flock of birds, talk startled swiftly into flight whenever the new postmaster was mentioned.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sarah Blake" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/like-a-stone-tossed-into-a-flock-of-birds-talk-startled-swiftly-into/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bird" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/like-a-stone-tossed-into-a-flock-of-birds-talk-startled-swiftly-into/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03a/sarah-blake-30827_bird_like-a-stone-tossed-into-a-flock-of-bird_334830.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03a/sarah-blake-30827_bird_like-a-stone-tossed-into-a-flock-of-bird_334830.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03a/sarah-blake-30827_bird_like-a-stone-tossed-into-a-flock-of-bird_334830.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Like a stone tossed into a flock of birds, talk startled swiftly into flight whenever the new postmaster was…” — Sarah Blake", "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": "Sarah Blake", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-blake/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Like a stone tossed into a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/like-a-stone-tossed-into-a-flock-of-birds-talk-startled-swiftly-into/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-blake/like-a-stone-tossed-into-a-flock-of-birds-talk-startled-swiftly-into/#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 } } ] } ```