--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As if hands were enough To hold an…" description: "\"As if hands were enough To hold an avalanche off.\" — Thom Gunn" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e34/thom-gunn-15259_avalanche_as-if-hands-were-enough-to-hold-an-avala_1834584.png" --- # As if hands were enough To hold an avalanche off. ![“As if hands were enough To hold an avalanche off.” quote by Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e34/thom-gunn-15259_avalanche_as-if-hands-were-enough-to-hold-an-avala_1834584.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e34/thom-gunn-15259_avalanche_as-if-hands-were-enough-to-hold-an-avala_1834584.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e34/thom-gunn-15259_avalanche_as-if-hands-were-enough-to-hold-an-avala_1834584.png) > “As if hands were enough To hold an avalanche off.” [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A metaphorical expression of insufficient effort to stop a massive, unstoppable force. **In simple terms:** Not enough to stop a huge problem. Key Takeaway Recognize limits of personal power. Themes limitations effort overwhelm Mood reflective somber Type cautionary philosophical When to use this quote - personal crises - environmental disasters - social movements - political upheavals Key Concepts metaphor scale control Questions to Reflect On - What can you realistically influence? - When should you seek collective help? A Different Perspective Even strong actions may be futile against larger forces. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Avalanche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avalanche/) [Avalanches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avalanches/) [Enough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enough/) [Hands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hands/) [Hands Hold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hands-hold/) [Hold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hold/) [Hold Avalanche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hold-avalanche-2299690/) ## Related quotes > [Our little pebble of poor performance helps to start, or to sustain, an avalanche.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-a-maxwell/our-little-pebble-of-poor-performance-helps-to-start-or-to-sustain-an/) [Neal A. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-a-maxwell/) > [I've read that if an avalanche buries you and you're lying there underneath all that snow, you can't tell which way is up or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khaled-hosseini/i-ve-read-that-if-an-avalanche-buries-you-and-you-re-lying-there/) [Khaled Hosseini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khaled-hosseini/) > [Everything that's written about me has such a negative taint. It just has a life of its own, like an avalanche, and I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roseanne-barr/everything-that-s-written-about-me-has-such-a-negative-taint-it-just/) [Roseanne Barr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roseanne-barr/) > [The snowflake never needs to feel responsible for the avalanche.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-ronson/the-snowflake-never-needs-to-feel-responsible-for-the-avalanche/) [Jon Ronson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-ronson/) > [Look at an avalanche, and see that we are at our most powerful when we let go. Look at a flower, and see that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shane-koyczan/look-at-an-avalanche-and-see-that-we-are-at-our-most-powerful-when-we/) [Shane Koyczan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shane-koyczan/) > [You will find it easiest to ride the avalanche in the direction it already travels.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gerrold/you-will-find-it-easiest-to-ride-the-avalanche-in-the-direction-it/) [David Gerrold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gerrold/) > [When you're wearing the Avalanche logo, you battle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-roy/when-you-re-wearing-the-avalanche-logo-you-battle/) [Patrick Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-roy/) > [I am left with the conviction that an avalanche would be easier to dissuade than that man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-l-lafevers/i-am-left-with-the-conviction-that-an-avalanche-would-be-easier-to/) [R.L. LaFevers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-l-lafevers/) > [Once you start turning over rocks and reaching out to help people, there's a whole avalanche coming right behind it. And it seems never-ending.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madonna-ciccone/once-you-start-turning-over-rocks-and-reaching-out-to-help-people/) [Madonna Ciccone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madonna-ciccone/) > [Nature photography... that acknowledges what is wrong, is admittedly sometimes hard to bear - it has to encompass our mistakes. Yet in the long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-adams/nature-photography-that-acknowledges-what-is-wrong-is-admittedly/) [Robert Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-adams/) > [Even the largest avalanche is triggered by small things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/even-the-largest-avalanche-is-triggered-by-small-things/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [I wanna survive an avalanche. I wanna be one of those people a dog finds buried under a ton of snow, almost dying of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tre-cool/i-wanna-survive-an-avalanche-i-wanna-be-one-of-those-people-a-dog/) [Tre Cool](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tre-cool/) > [So a voice in the mountain is enough to let loose an avalanche. A word too much may be followed by a caving in.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/so-a-voice-in-the-mountain-is-enough-to-let-loose-an-avalanche-a-word/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Things shouldn't hinge on so very little. Sneeze and you're highway carnage. Remove one tiny stone and you're an avalanche statistic. But I guess…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miriam-toews/things-shouldn-t-hinge-on-so-very-little-sneeze-and-you-re-highway/) [Miriam Toews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miriam-toews/) > [Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/each-snowflake-in-an-avalanche-pleads-not-guilty/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Thom Gunn > [How sociable the garden was. We ate and talked in given light. The children put their toys to grass All the warm wakeful August…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/how-sociable-the-garden-was-we-ate-and-talked-in-given-light-the/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [It was difficult being a teacher and out of the closet in the '50s. By the time I retired, the English department was proud…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/it-was-difficult-being-a-teacher-and-out-of-the-closet-in-the-50s-by/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [We tend to put poems into factions. And it restricts our reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/we-tend-to-put-poems-into-factions-and-it-restricts-our-reading/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [We control the content of our dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/we-control-the-content-of-our-dreams/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [Deep feeling doesn't make for good poetry. A way with language would be a bit of help.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/deep-feeling-doesn-t-make-for-good-poetry-a-way-with-language-would/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [My old teacher's definition of poetry is an attempt to understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/my-old-teacher-s-definition-of-poetry-is-an-attempt-to-understand/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [I admired what my students were writing, but I think their improvement doesn't directly result from me but from being in a class, being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-admired-what-my-students-were-writing-but-i-think-their-improvement/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [One joins the movement in a valueless world, Choosing it, till both hurler and the hurled, One moves as well, always toward, toward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/one-joins-the-movement-in-a-valueless-world-choosing-it-till-both/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [As humans we look at things and think about what we've looked at. We treasure it in a kind of private art gallery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/as-humans-we-look-at-things-and-think-about-what-we-ve-looked-at-we/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [I was at a benefit for some imprisoned students in the '60s at San Francisco State, and there were lots of poets reading for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-was-at-a-benefit-for-some-imprisoned-students-in-the-60s-at-san/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [“At worse, one is in motion; and at best, Reaching no absolute, in which to rest, One is always nearer by not keeping still.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/at-worse-one-is-in-motion-and-at-best-reaching-no-absolute-in-which/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [There have been two popular subjects for poetry in the last few decades: the Vietnam War and AIDS, about both of which almost all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/there-have-been-two-popular-subjects-for-poetry-in-the-last-few/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [I deliberately wrote a poem in my last book where I was suggesting that there are other passions as great as or more important…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-deliberately-wrote-a-poem-in-my-last-book-where-i-was-suggesting/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [I was much influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-was-much-influenced-by-jean-paul-sartre/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [I don't think of sex as a self-destructive impulse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-don-t-think-of-sex-as-a-self-destructive-impulse/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) [Explore all 43 Thom Gunn quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) ## More Avalanche quotes > [“If this was the price of benefits, it was too high. He wanted his friend back, because that was a man worth taking an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-p-wayne/if-this-was-the-price-of-benefits-it-was-too-high-he-wanted-his/) [S.P. Wayne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-p-wayne/) > [The one certainly for anyone in the path of an avalanche is this: standing still is not an option.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-davies/the-one-certainly-for-anyone-in-the-path-of-an-avalanche-is-this/) [Norman Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-davies/) > [“ Ride! ' went the call, and the individuals of the troop became a single lurching, streaming mass of horseflesh pounding toward the trees.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-u-pacat/ride-went-the-call-and-the-individuals-of-the-troop-became-a-single/) [S.U. Pacat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-u-pacat/) > [Our little pebble of poor performance helps to start, or to sustain, an avalanche.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-a-maxwell/our-little-pebble-of-poor-performance-helps-to-start-or-to-sustain-an/) [Neal A. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-a-maxwell/) > [In all my wild mountaineering, I have enjoyed only one avalanche ride; and the start was so sudden, and the end came so soon,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-muir/in-all-my-wild-mountaineering-i-have-enjoyed-only-one-avalanche-ride/) [John Muir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-muir/) > [“You don't understand. My brain consists of large, snowy mountains, and you just caused an avalanche.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-rodriguez/you-don-t-understand-my-brain-consists-of-large-snowy-mountains-and/) [David Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-rodriguez/) > [Things shouldn't hinge on so very little. Sneeze and you're highway carnage. Remove one tiny stone and you're an avalanche statistic. But I guess…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miriam-toews/things-shouldn-t-hinge-on-so-very-little-sneeze-and-you-re-highway/) [Miriam Toews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miriam-toews/) > [Historical change is like an avalanche. The starting point is a snow-covered mountainside that looks solid. All changes take place under the surface and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-davies/historical-change-is-like-an-avalanche-the-starting-point-is-a-snow/) [Norman Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-davies/) > [“This was the sort of man who reached his destination with the implacable force of an avalanche and cared just as little about obstacles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joana-starnes/this-was-the-sort-of-man-who-reached-his-destination-with-the/) [Joana Starnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joana-starnes/) > [“The Unknown Travelers Lugged to the gray arbor, I have climbed this snow-stone on my face, My stick, but what, snapped the avalanche The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ashbery/the-unknown-travelers-lugged-to-the-gray-arbor-i-have-climbed-this/) [John Ashbery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ashbery/) > [So a voice in the mountain is enough to let loose an avalanche. A word too much may be followed by a caving in.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/so-a-voice-in-the-mountain-is-enough-to-let-loose-an-avalanche-a-word/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [The men have piled up in my past, have fallen trenchantly through my life, like an avalanche that doesn't mean to kill but is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/the-men-have-piled-up-in-my-past-have-fallen-trenchantly-through-my/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) > [“The avalanche was down, the hillside swept bare behind it; the last echoes died on the white slopes; the new mount glittered and lay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-waugh/the-avalanche-was-down-the-hillside-swept-bare-behind-it-the-last/) [Evelyn Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-waugh/) > [It's not like I'm training every day by doing an avalanche suplex off the top turnbuckle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shayna-baszler/it-s-not-like-i-m-training-every-day-by-doing-an-avalanche-suplex-off/) [Shayna Baszler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shayna-baszler/) > [I wanna survive an avalanche. I wanna be one of those people a dog finds buried under a ton of snow, almost dying of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tre-cool/i-wanna-survive-an-avalanche-i-wanna-be-one-of-those-people-a-dog/) [Tre Cool](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tre-cool/) [Browse all 52 Avalanche quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avalanche/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As if hands were enough To hold an avalanche off.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thom Gunn" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/as-if-hands-were-enough-to-hold-an-avalanche-off/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Avalanche" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/as-if-hands-were-enough-to-hold-an-avalanche-off/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e34/thom-gunn-15259_avalanche_as-if-hands-were-enough-to-hold-an-avala_1834584.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e34/thom-gunn-15259_avalanche_as-if-hands-were-enough-to-hold-an-avala_1834584.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e34/thom-gunn-15259_avalanche_as-if-hands-were-enough-to-hold-an-avala_1834584.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As if hands were enough To hold an avalanche off.” — Thom Gunn", "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": "Thom Gunn", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "As if hands were enough To...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/as-if-hands-were-enough-to-hold-an-avalanche-off/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/as-if-hands-were-enough-to-hold-an-avalanche-off/#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 } } ] } ```