Watching a river, whether it’s rushing or just gurgling along, is a great example of nature’s ability to relax you and we love how rivers add interest to any landscape. Here we have gathered some of the best river quotes to inspire you or use for photo captions.
Since the list is long we divided them up into groups to make it easier for you to find the river saying that works best for you. Scroll on down to the section of quotes about rivers that suits you.
Our Favorite River Quotes
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These are our favourite overall river quotations that bring across the feeling of being near a river. These make great river quotes for Instagram posts.
“A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.” – Jim Watkins
“A river seems a magic thing. A magic, moving, living part of the very earth itself.” – Laura Gilpin
“The river has great wisdom and whispers its secrets to the hearts of men.” – Mark Twain
“Beside 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
“I was still water, held by my surroundings. I am now a river, carving my own path.” – Scott Stabile
“The river asked me who I was to be gazing so longingly into her curving body of cascading dreams and shifting beauty.” – Todd Crawshaw
“I choose to listen to the river for a while, thinking river thoughts, before joining the night and the stars.” – Edward Abbey
“You can no more read the same book again than you can step into the same river.” – Neil Gaiman
“The sun shines not on us but in us. The Rivers flow not past, but through us.” – John Muir
If you like this quote head to our list of John Muir Quotes for more.
“Who hears the rippling of rivers will not utterly despair of anything.” – Henry David Thoreau
“I love you like a river that understands that it must learn to flow differently over waterfalls and to rest in the shallows.” – Paulo Coelho
“Sometimes there’s just no way to hold back the river.” – Paulo Coelho
“Never test the depth of river with both the feet.” – Warren Buffett
“Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it.” – Justin Timberlake
“Everything is change; and you cannot step twice into the same river.” – Mary Renault
“Yesterday’s gone on down the river and you can’t get it back.” – Larry McMurtry
“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
“He who does not know his way to the sea should take a river for his guide.” – Blaise Pascal
“He used to often say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” – A.A. Milne
“There is another alphabet, whispering from every leaf, singing from every river, shimmering from every sky.” – Dejan Stojanovic
”You can’t be unhappy in the middle of a big, beautiful river.” – Jim Harrison
“If you have learnt enjoying life without purpose, like a flowing river, you have learnt the art of living.” – Girdhar Joshi
“A river is water is 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
“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
“I have never seen a river that I could not love.” – Roderick Haig Brown
“The river was so blue it seemed to be breathing.” – Brian Morton
“The deeper the waters are, the more still they run.” – Korean Proverb
RELATED: Short Deep Quotes
“I thought how lovely and how strange a river is…” – Aidan Chambers
“A good river is nature’s life work in song.” – Mark Helprin
We also have other lists of quotes and captions about nature including the sun, waterfalls, sunsets , forests, rivers, lakes, trees, mountains, the sea, sunshine and sunrise.
“Life is like the river, sometimes it sweeps you gently along and sometimes the rapids come out of nowhere.” – Emma Smith
“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
“Life is like a river. Let it flow in its own way. Never try to control it.” – Shobana Rajasundaram
“Life is like a river. The way of life is to flow with the current. To turn against it takes effort, but the current will carry you if you let it.”
“Life is like a river. It will either drag you with its flow, or you can learn to surf. Choice is yours.” – Nitin Kishore Rawat
“I understand that everything is connected, that all roads meet, and that all rivers flow into the same sea.” – Paulo Coelho
“For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.” – Khalil Gibran
“The River of Life has no meaning, no good, no bad, no better, no worse, no love, no hate, no fear, no anger, no joy. The River of Life has no judgment, no expectation. The River of Life just IS.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie
“Hitch a ride on the river of life.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie
“Life in us is like the water in a river.” – Henry David Thoreau
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.”
“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” – A. A. Milne
“The song of the river ends not at her banks, but in the hearts of those who have loved her.” – Buffalo – Joe
“You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.” – Mark Twain
“The first river you paddle runs through the rest of your life. It bubbles up in pools and eddies to remind you who you are.” – Lynn Culbreath Noel
“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. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops.”
“Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.” – Norman Maclean
“Time is like a river. You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment of your life!”
“River is time in water; as it came, still so it flows, yet never is the same.” – Barten Holyday
“Time flows away like the water in the river.” – Confucius
“I had no plans of any destination. I wish to flow like a river.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
“I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.” – John O’Donohue
“Rivers flow not past, but through us; tingling, vibrating, exciting every cell and fiber in our bodies, making them sing and glide.“ – John Muir
“A river doesn’t just carry water, it carries life.” – Amit Kalantri
“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
“Like a house that has a home and a river that flows, so does love become when you open your heart, even when the lights go out or the flow encounters rocks.” – Goitsemang Mvula
“In the harmonious synthesis of the opposite ends of the river, flows the stream of happiness.” – Awdhesh Singh
“The flowing river nonchalantly reminds us of life: flowing relentlessly; flowing purposelessly. Life without purpose.” – Girdhar Joshi
“One can flow harmoniously with the River – or one can struggle fearfully against the River – and the River just flows.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie
“Time flows away like the water in the river.” – Confucius
“Our love was a river, always changing under the mercy of nature’s elements, but we continued to flow, even when we trickled.” – Shannon A. Thompson
“Love, like a river, will cut a new path whenever it meets an obstacle.” – Crystal Middlemas
“Love is a choice. It’s a decision.’ She told us, ‘It flows into, through, and out of each person like a river. If you try to stop it, it’ll sneak around until It finds another heart and breaks through.” – Charles Martin
“I am in love, and the river is beginning to ice over. I’d better go drown myself before I freeze to death.” – Dark Jar Tin Zoo
“Love, like a river, will cut a new path whenever it meets an obstacle.” – Crystal Middlemas
“Wondering if you are Love is like the river wondering if it is water.”
“Don’t push the river, it will flow. Don’t push the love, it will grow.”
“Love is a river. Drink from it.” – Rumi
“Love is the world’s river of life.” – Henry Ward Beecher
“Love without trust is a river without water.” – Harbhajan Singh Yogi
“Love is the river of life in the world.” – Henry Ward Beecher
Funny River Quotes
Sometimes you are looking for an amusing river quote for Instagram. If so, these are for you! If you like funny quotes and sayings, you should also check out our lists of Short Funny Quotes, Funny Good Morning Quotes, Funny Love Quotes, Funny Work Quotes, Funny Quotes of the Day, Funny Quotes About Life and Funny Inspirational Quotes.
“When you go out in a boat you don’t want to get that sinking feeling.” – Anthony T.Hincks
“I live in a van, down by the river!” – Chris Farley
“Some drink deeply from the river of knowledge. Others only gargle.” – Woody Allen
“What happens at the river stays at the river.”
“Floating on the river, killin’ my liver.”
“Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.” – Mark Twain
“The best place to drink beer is at home. Or on a river bank, if the fish dont bother you.”
“Life is better on the river.”
“Be like a river. Be open. Flow.” – Julie Connor
“The river of knowledge has no depth.” – Chinonye J. Chidolue
“Like the river, keep on flowing.” – Avijeet Das
“A river unneeded still finds its way down to the ocean.” – Will Advise
“The night. The stars. The river.” – Edward Abbey
“The only way to understand a river is to jump into it.” – Alice Hoffman
“A river is easier to channel than to stop.” – Brandon Sanderson
“Hope is a continuous flowing river.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” – Loren Eiseley
“If the earth is a mother then rivers are her veins.” – Amit Kalantri
“We steer the boat, we don’t alter the river.” – J. Earp
“The river looked miles and miles across.” – Mark Twain
“Live like a mighty river.” – Gautama Buddha
“Don’t try to steer the river.” – Deepak Chopra
“A river has many curves, but it always reaches the ocean.” – Donald L. Hicks
“Cross the river by feeling for stones.” – Deng Xiaoping
“Don’t push the river. Just go with it.” – Alysia Reiner
”A river doesn’t just carry water, it carries life.” – Amit Kalantri
“A good river is nature’s life work in song.” – Mark Helprin
RELATED: 40 Short Nature Quotes: Inspirational Thoughts on Nature
Inspirational Quotes About Rivers
There are a lot of quotes that are also inspirational. If you like inspirational quotes check out our lists of Short Inspirational Quotes, Inspirational Morning Quotes, Inspirational Quotes for Today, Funny Inspirational Quotes and Inspirational Quotes for Work.
“Rivers never go in reverse. So try to live like a river. Forget your past and focus on your future.”
“It is from small streams that big rivers rise.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
“A winter message from the river: Never surrender! Life can try to stop you, but somehow find a way to flow!” – Mehmet Murat ildan
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” – Rumi
“The river embraces me and guides me to swim inside her and to drink the nectar of love from her bosom. She tells me her secrets and I tell her mine.” – Avijeet Das
“A boat can cross a river, a ship can cross a sea, and a soul can cross the universe.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
“A river will find its path to the ocean, be positive and be focused” – P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
“Do not despise the water droplets that you receive. Soon, they will be a river.” – Bruce Mbanzabugabo
“Learn from a river; obstacles may force it to change its course, but never its destination.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
“Make hope just like water in your life.” – Khaled Ibrahim
“Patience is the river that finds its way to the sea, by flowing through many confluences.” – Mladen Đorđević
“Witnessing is not flowing with the current of the river but observing the flow from the bank of the river.” – Amit Ray
“With heavy rainfall, the river will overflow its banks. This is spirit of gratitude; the more grateful you are, the more your life overflow with abundance.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
“What you give away comes back to you in a river.” – Robin Sharma
River Captions for Instagram
These are our favourites captions about rivers on our list of the best River Captions for Instagram.
- Take me to the river, drop me in the water
- River water is just like poem without words
- Rollin rollin rollin on the river
- River rules: Live, love, swim!
- Day dreams of river streams
- On river time
- Life is good, but its better on rivers
- To the river I go, to lose my mind and find my soul
- Life is simple, just add water
- Keeping it reel on the river
- River hair, don’t care
- Wander often, wonder always
- I don’t need a river to be lazy
- Happiness comes in currents
- Keep calm and paddle on
- Lost on the river. Don’t bother me.
- We steer the boat, we don’t alter the river
- River Relaxed
- River toe dipping
- Cry me a river
- On river time
- Curves of life
- The river is everywhere
- Forever a river lover
- Life is better on the river
- Practicing being still like a mountain and flowing like a river
- Smell the river and feel the sky, let your soul and spirit fly
- Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it
- A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence
That wraps up our list of the best river quotes. Let us know in the comments if we have missed any of your favourites.
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About the Author
Laynni Locke
Laynni has been sharing her travel adventures and day-to-day life on Routinely Nomadic social media for over 15 years and appreciates the importance of finding the perfect quote or caption to showcase those experiences. Putting her extensive writing and education background to good use, Laynni has become passionate about researching and curating comprehensive lists of all the best quotes and captions for every occasion.
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