"Is it not better, then, to be alone, And love Earth only for its earthly sake? By the blue rushing of the arrowy Rhone Or the pure bosom of its nursing lake."

"Thou Royal River, born of sun and shower In chambers purple with the Alpine glow, Wrapped in the spotless ermine of the snow And rocked by tempests!"

"Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow, Or by the lazy Scheld or wandering Po!"

"Alone by the Schuylkill a wanderer rov'd, And bright were its flowery banks to his eye; But far, very far, were the friends that he lov'd, And he gaz'd on its flowery banks with a sigh."

"Way down upon de Swanee Ribber, Far, far away, Dere's whar ma heart am turning ebber, Dere's whar de old folks stay. All up and down de whole creation, Sadly I roam, Still longing for de old plantation, And for de old folks at home."

"Sweet Teviot! on thy silver tide The glaring bale-fires blaze no more; No longer steel-clad warriors ride Along thy wild and willow'd shore."

"O, could I flow like thee! and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme; Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull; Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full."

"Serene yet strong, majestic yet sedate, Swift without violence, without terror great."

"Slow let us trace the matchless vale of Thames; Fair winding up to where the Muses haunt In Twit'nham bowers, and for their Pope implore."

"Never did sun more beautifully steep In his first splendor, valley, rock, or hill; Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! The river glideth at his own sweet will. Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still!"

"Thou hast fair forms that move With queenly tread; Thou hast proud fanes above Thy mighty dead. Yet wears thy Tiber's shore A mournful mien:- Rome, Rome, thou art no more As thou hast been."

"Those graceful groves that shade the plain, Where Tiber rolls majestic to the main, And flattens, as he runs, the fair campagne."

"Oh Tiber, father Tiber, to whom the Romans pray, A Roman's life, a Roman's arms, take thou in charge this day!"

"Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears Into the channel, till the lowest stream Do kiss the most exalted shores of all."

"Thy braes were bonnie, Yarrow stream, When first on them I met my lover; Thy braes how dreary, Yarrow stream, When now thy waves his body cover!"

"O lovely river of Yvette! O darling river! like a bride, Some dimpled, bashful, fair Lisette, Thou goest to wed the Orge's tide. O lovely river of Yvette! O darling stream! on balanced wings The wood-birds sang the chansonnette That here a wandering poet sings."

"I see the winding waters make A short and then a shorter lake As here stand I And houseboat-high Survey the upper Thames."

"And Potomac flowed calmly, scarce heaving her breast, With her low-lying billows all bright in the west, For a charm as from God lulled the waters to rest Of the fair rolling river."

"All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again."

"You cannot step twice into the same rivers; for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you."

"Let's lie down on the bank of the river and listen to water's pulse."

"A river is more than an amenity, it is a treasure. It offers a necessity of life that must be rationed among those who have power over it."

"Rivers have been personalized (Old Father Thames), fantasized (Anna Livia Plurabelle), sung to (Ol' Man River), regarded as sacred (Ganges, Alph) invented to symbolize the inevitability of death (Styx), remembered because they marked turning points in human history (Rubicon). If it were not for the winding Maiandros we would not meander; without the Rhine literature and music would be the poorer by the loss of countless legends; Christ was baptized in the Jordan. And when river and city meet, the human race puts down roots of civilization; it is my consciousness of that truth that makes it impossible for me to get used to the idea of invisible rivers, those streams that have been covered over as cities spread, but continue to flow silently and unseen beneath the streets."

"I want no more than to speak simply to be granted that grace. Because we've loaded our songs with so much music that they're slowly sinking and we've decorated our art so much that its features have been eaten away by gold and it's time to say our few words because tomorrow our soul sets sail. ...I think so much these days about the great river, that symbol which moves forward among herbs and greenery and beasts that graze and drink, and men who sow and harvest, great tombs even and small habitations of the dead. That current which goes its way and which is not so different from the blood of men..."

"There is a river in Macedon, and there is also, moreover, a river at Monmouth. It is called Wye at Monmouth, but it is out of my prains what is the name of the other river. But ’tis all one; ’tis alike as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is salmons in both."

"All rivers at night are melancholy, sentimental, sad, like emblems of the mystery and unreality of human things. Under their spell we seem to see things larger than our own small selves."

"The cloud, wearing white on white like Siva, making beautiful the sky on his way from the sea grew dark as the face of the Lord who wears with pride on his right the Goddess of the scented breasts."

"They pour like a generous giver giving all he has, remembering and reckoning all he has."

"It floods, it runs over its continents like the fame of a great king, upright, infallible, reigning by the Laws under cool royal umbrellas."

"Concubines caressing their lovers' hair, their lovers' bodies, their lovers' limbs, take away whole hills of wealth yet keep little in their spendthrift hands as they move on: so too the waters flow from the peaks to the valleys, beginning high and reaching low."