These river quotes will inspire you to move forward through life and create your own path.
The river is a body of flowing water that travels to a sea, lake, or stream. Its movement and power to carve new paths for itself is a characteristic that is often used in literature.
As humans, we are blessed by the healing effect of nature. But, wildlife and rivers are more valued for the lessons it brings to our lives using metaphors. Our collection below is full of wisdom about the enlightenment that the river brings, so don’t miss out!
Read the complete collection below to learn more.
And don’t forget to check out these water quotes and forest quotes.
Best River Quotes
1. “The river moves, but it follows a path. When it tires of one journey, it rubs through some rock to forge a new way. Hard work, but that’s its nature.” – Kekla Magoon
2. “Be like a river. Be open. Flow.” – Julie Connor
3. “A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.” – Jim Watkins
4. “Rivers flow not past but through us. Tingling, vibrating, exciting every cell and fiber in our bodies, making them sing and glide.” – John Muir
5. “A river is a river, always there, and yet, the water flowing through it is never the same water and is never still. It’s always changing and is always on the move, and over time, the river itself changes too.” – Aidan Chambers
6. “A river has many curves, but it always reaches the ocean.” – Donald L. Hicks
7. “The river is one of my favorite metaphors, the symbol of the great flow of life itself. The river begins at the source and returns to source unerringly.” – Jeffrey R. Anderson
8. “A river seems a magic thing—a magic, moving, living part of the very earth itself.” – Laura Gilpin
9. “A river is water in its loveliest form. Rivers have life and sound and movement and infinity of variation. Rivers are veins of the earth through which the lifeblood returns to the heart.” – Roderick Haig-Brown
10. “What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn’t have any doubt. It is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn’t want to go anywhere else.” – Hal Boyle
11. “The river has great wisdom and whispers its secrets to the hearts of men.” – Mark Twain
12. “Life is like the river, sometimes it sweeps you gently along, and sometimes, the rapids come out of nowhere.” – Emma Hale
13. “A river continues to flow despite losing a few drops at each turn.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
14. “A river doesn’t just carry water, it carries life.” – Amit Kalantri
15. “Rivers know this—there is no hurry. We shall get there someday.” – A.A. Milne
Quotes About the River That Will Inspire You
16. “May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back, the way it is with children.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
17. “The hard path is often the right one. The river teaches more than the shore.” – Maxime Lagace
18. “Who hears the rippling of rivers will not utterly despair of anything.” – Henry David Thoreau
19. “The river teaches us many things, but its most important teaching is this, whatever is happening around you, you keep flowing to your own destination following your own way!” – Mehmet Murat İldan
20. “Rivers are places that renew our spirit, connect us with our past, and link us directly with the flow and rhythm of the natural world.” – Ted Turner
21. “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” – Heraclitus
22. “Despite the ferocity of the current, a river is always moving, but it’s always in the same place. And much like a river, while we should surge forward with great ferocity, our principles should never move.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough
23. “Rivers are roads which move, and which carry us whither we desire to go.” – Blaise Pascal
24. “A dream is like a river, ever-changing as it flows, and a dreamer’s just a vessel that must follow where it goes.” – Garth Brooks
25. “Many a calm river begins as a turbulent waterfall, yet none hurtles and foams all the way to the sea.” – Mikhail Lermontov
Also read: Inspirational Quotes, Encouraging Quotes
Poetic Quotes on Rivers
26. “When the river meets the ocean, the memories of the river meet the memories of the ocean. These two different worlds have many stories to tell each other!” – Mehmet Murat İldan
27. “I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.” – John O’Donohue
28. “In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes, so with present time.” – Leonardo da Vinci
29. “To put your hands in a river is to feel the chords that bind the earth together.” – Barry Lopez
30. “Love is like a river, never-ending as it flows, but gets greater with time.” – Reinhold Niebuhr
Also read: Nature Quotes, Cloud Quotes
River Quotes That Are Full of Wisdom
31. “Rivers never go in reverse, so try to live like a river. Forget your past and focus on your future.” – Anonymous
32. “Learn from a river. Obstacles may force it to change its course, but never its destination.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
33. “Rivers are roads that move and carry us whither we wish to go.” – Blaise Pascal
34. “Flow like a river, calmly, naturally, enjoying the present moment, without thinking of the ocean, and finally, you will be there!” – Mehmet Murat İldan
35. “With heavy rainfall, the river will overflow its banks. This is the spirit of gratitude. The more grateful you are, the more your life overflow with abundance.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
36. “The river has taught me to listen. You will learn from it too. The river knows everything. One can learn everything from it. You have already learned from the river that it is good to strive downwards, to sink, to seek the depths.” – Hermann Hesse
37. “A river will find its path to the ocean, be positive and be focused.” – P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
38. “The life in us is like the water in the river. It may rise this year higher than man has ever known it and flood the parched uplands. Even this may be the eventful year, which will drown out all our muskrats. It was not always dry land where we dwell.” – Henry David Thoreau
39. “A river never wants to turn into a lake, and a person who likes to flow like a river never wants to be something stagnant like a lake!” – Mehmet Murat İldan
40. “There are no guarantees in life, no certainties in life, just the ever-changing, flowing river of life.” – Rasheed Ogunlaru
41. “When you stop beside a river, you get this message—flow! And when you flow, you meet the never-seen and the never-lived parts of the life!” – Mehmet Murat İldan
42. “Besides the river, there are two things you never forget—that the moment you look at a river, that moment has already passed and that everything is on its way somewhere else.” – Niall Williams
43. “If a stone hits a river, the river will treat it as yet another commotion in its already tumultuous course. Nothing unusual. Nothing unmanageable. If a stone hits a lake, however, the lake will never be the same again.” – Elif Shafak
44. “The way to the place you wish to go can always be found. Just behave like a river, that is to say, firstly, move and secondly, move with no hesitation!” – Mehmet Murat İldan
45. “The river is constantly turning and bending, and you never know where it’s going to go and where you’ll wind up. Following the bend in the river and staying on your own path means that you are on the right track. Don’t let anyone deter you from that.” – Eartha Kitt
Also read: Wave Quotes
Short River Quotes
46. “The river will always be the river, but never the river you know.” – Anonymous
47. “When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” – Rumi
48. “Love, like a river, will cut a new path whenever it meets an obstacle.” – Crystal Middlemas
49. “No one tests the depth of the river with both feet.” – Ashanti Proverb
50. “The care of rivers is not a question of rivers but of the human heart.” – Shozo Tanaka
51. “The first river you paddle runs through the rest of your life.” – Lynn Culbreath Noel
52. “Sometimes, there’s just no way to hold back the river.” – Paulo Coelho
53. “We steer the boat. We don’t alter the river.” – J. Earp
54. “You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.” – Paulo Coelho
55. “I feel a continuous river of faith flowing for ages.” – Geeta Tripathee
56. “A river unneeded still finds its way down to the ocean.” – Will Advise
57. “The river waters quench the thirst of all living beings.” – Ram Nath Kovind
58. “Don’t push the river, it will flow. Don’t push the love, it will grow.” – Chinese Proverb
59. “As long as you can find the river, you can find your way home.” – The Good Dinosaur
Also read: Short Quotes
Beautiful River Quotes
60. “The river was so blue it seemed to be breathing.” – Brian Morton
61. “I thought how lovely and how strange a river is.” – Aidan Chambers
62. “The moving, living river carries the soul of this earth, the murmurs of its music, how the whispers arise from the riverbed only to lull you in the deeps.” – Jayita Bhattacharjee
63. “You can’t be unhappy in the middle of a big, beautiful river.” – Jim Harrison
64. “The river is such a tranquil place, a place to sit and think of romance and the beauty of nature, to enjoy the elegance of swans and the chance of a glimpse of a kingfisher.” – Jane Wilson-Howarth
65. “I have never seen a river that I could not love. Moving water has a fascinating vitality.” – Roderick Haig-Brown
66. “The river asked me who I was to be gazing so longingly into her curving body of cascading dreams and shifting beauty.” – Todd Crawshaw
67. “If the earth is a mother, then rivers are her veins.” – Amit Kalantri
68. “I choose to listen to the river for a while, thinking river thoughts before joining the night and the stars.” – Edward Abbey
69. “A good river is nature’s life work in song.” – Mark Helprin
70. “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.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
71. “The river knows the way to the sea. Without a pilot, it runs and falls, blessing all lands with its charity.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
72. “We must begin thinking like a river if we are to leave a legacy of beauty and life for future generations.” – David Brower
Deep Quotes That Highlight How Rivers Are Metaphors for Life
73. “Life is much like a river. I can’t determine where the river comes from or where it’s flowing to, but I can immerse myself in it as it’s flowing by me.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough
74. “Life is like a river. Let it flow in its own way. Never try to control it.” – Shobana Rajasundaram
75. “While the river of life glides along smoothly, it remains the same river. Only the landscape on either bank seems to change.” – Max Muller
76. “Life is a river of ordeals that makes men swim upstream so that they may chase after their dreams, and whoever refuses to swim gets washed away downstream and be dragooned to drown to its defeatist depths.” – Picazo Basha
77. “Life is like a river. It will either drag you with its flow, or you can learn to surf. The choice is yours.” – Nitin Kishore Rawat
78. “Life is a deep river. Its noise breaks us in parts, and its silence slowly silent our heart.” – Anonymous
Quotes to Learn About the Connection Between Rivers and Peace
79. “A river flows freely from its source.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
80. “Surrender to the flow of the river of life, yet do not float down the river like a leaf or a log. While neither attempting to resist life nor to hurry it, become the rudder and use your energy to correct your course to avoid the whirlpools and undertow.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie
81. “Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river.” – Lao Tzu
82. “One can flow harmoniously with the river, or one can struggle fearfully against the river, and the river just flows.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie
83. “The river flows at its own sweet will, but the flood is bound in the two banks. If it were not thus bound, its freedom would be wasted.” – Vinoba Bhave
84. “I had no plans of any destination. I wish to flow like a river.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
River Quotes That Will Give You a Powerful Message
85. “Days and rivers are the same. They both flow to the unknown oceans.” – Mehmet Murat İldan
86. “I was still water held by my surroundings. I am now a river carving my own path.” – Scott Stabile
87. “He who does not know his way to the sea should take a river for his guide.” – Blaise Pascal
88. “In the harmonious synthesis of the opposite ends of the river, flows the stream of happiness.” – Awdhesh Singh
89. “I understand that everything is connected, that all roads meet, and that all rivers flow into the same sea.” – Paulo Coelho
90. “Have you also learned that secret from the river? That there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.” – Hermann Hesse
91. “Although we are in different boats, you in your boat and we in our canoe, we share the same river of life.” – Oren Lyons
92. “You want to be a river? This is not necessary because you can be a river without being a river. Just flow in your life. This is what the rivers are doing. They are flowing!” – Mehmet Murat İldan
93. “We can’t always be the bridge. Sometimes, we have to be the flooding river.” – K. Weikel
94. “The river itself portrays humanity precisely, with its tortuous windings, its accumulation of driftwood, its unsuspected depths, and its crystalline shallows, singing in the summer sun.” – Myrtle Reed
Meaningful River Quotes
95. “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time.” – Norman Maclean
96. “Rivers run through our history and folklore and link us as a people. We are a nation rich in rivers.” – Charles Kuralt
97. “I had been afraid of the awful presence of the river, which was the soul of the river, but through her, I learned that my spirit shared in the spirit of all things.” – Rudolfo Anaya
98. “Do not despise the water droplets that you receive. Soon, they will be a river.” – Bruce Mbanzabugabo
99. “The rush of the river was a voice, a presence. Water flowed in different to the heave and plunge of the sun, the shrouded moon, and the slow spin of the stars.” – Steven Erikson
100. “No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning.” – American Indian Proverb
Also read: Meaningful Quotes
What Lesson Did You Learn From These River Quotes?
The river lets us appreciate the beauty and power that nature holds. It is a perfect place to relax and reflect on life, and it helps us learn more about ourselves and our role in the world.
But, above all, the biggest lesson the river teaches us is to continue moving forward in life. No matter how many hurdles and obstacles are there, we should power through and focus on our goals. Always be like the river that paves the way, even if there are none.
We hope that these river quotes were able to inspire you to keep going and fighting through any problem. Remember to flow calmly and cherish every moment.
Which river quote made you realize something about yourself? Did you enjoy this river quote collection? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!
