“Love is the crocodile in the river of desire.”

“However long it stays in the river the tree-trunk will never turn into a crocodile.”

“Oh, that river of wishes, the slippery crocodile dream of it, how it might have carried my body down through all the glittering sand bars to the sea.”

“You also killed Despatov," he countered. "You and your damned seamen."It was the crocodile killed Despatov," I pointed out as reasonably as I could, still hoping to find a compromise. "We can hardly be held responsible for the actions of every crocodile on the River Beet-"SILENCE!" Bormann screamed.”

“It is not merely our own desire but the desire of Christ in His Spirit that drives us to grow in love. Those who seldom or never feel in their hearts the desire for the love of God and other men, and who do not thirst for the pure waters of desire which are poured out in us by the strong, living God, are usually those who have drunk from other rivers or have dug for themselves broken cisterns.”

“Rivers are roads which move, and which carry us whither we desire to go.”

“Crocodiles, you will say, are stationary. Mr. Waterton tells me that the crocodile does not change,—that a cayman, in fact, or an alligator, is just as good for riding upon as he was in the time of the Pharaohs. That may be; but the reason is that the crocodile does not live fast—he is a slow coach. I believe it is generally understood among naturalists that the crocodile is a blockhead. It is my own impression that the Pharaohs were also blockheads.”