Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Rivers (General Topic)
And see the rivers how they run
Through woods and meads, in shade and sun,
Sometimes swift, sometimes slow,—
Wave succeeding wave, they go
A various journey to the deep,
Like human life to endless sleep!
John Dyer—Grongar Hill. L. 93.
The fountains of sacred rivers flow upwards, (i.e. everything is turned topsy turvy).
Euripides—Medea. 409.
Two ways the rivers
Leap down to different seas, and as they roll
Grow deep and still, and their majestic presence
Becomes a benefaction to the towns
They visit, wandering silently among them,
Like patriarchs old among their shining tents.
Longfellow—Christus. The Golden Legend. Pt. V.
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
Marlowe—The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. Same idea in Merry Wives of Windsor. Act III. Sc. 1. Passionate Shepherd said to be written by Shakespeare and Marlowe.
Les rivières sent des chemins qui marchant et qui portent où l’on veut aller.
Rivers are roads that move and carry us whither we wish to go.
Pascal—Pensées. VII. 38.
Viam qui nescit qua deveniat ad mare
Eum oportet amnem quærere comitem sibi.
He who does not know his way to the sea should take a river for his guide.
Plautus—Pœnulus. III. 3. 14.
Now scantier limits the proud arch confine,
And scarce are seen the prostrate Nile or Rhine;
A small Euphrates thro’ the piece is roll’d,
And little eagles wave their wings in gold.
Pope—Moral Essays. Epistle to Addison. L. 27.
From Stirling Castle we had seen
The mazy Forth unravelled;
Had trod the banks of Clyde and Tay,
And with the Tweed had travelled;
And when we came to Clovenford,
Then said “my winsome marrow,”
“Whate’er betide, we’ll turn aside,
And see the braes of Yarrow.”
Wordsworth—Yarrow Unvisited.