“But it was late.We had to go home.We listenedto the river singing, the river singing stone.”

“There is a true yearning to respond to the singing river and wise rock.”

“Things are going downhill with you!' he said to himself, and laughed about it, and as he was saying it, he happened to glance at the river, and he also saw the river going downhill, always moving on downhill, and singing and being happy through it all.”

“Believe you and I sing tiny and wise and could if we had to eat stone and go on. ”

“There is another alphabet, whispering from every leaf, singing from every river, shimmering from every sky.”

“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. Barriers may be built across its path, but they bring only power, as the conquering of an obstacle is always sure to do. Sometimes when the rocks and stone-clad hills loom large ahead, and eternity itself would be needed to carve a passage, there is an easy way around. The discovery of it makes the river sing with gladness and turns the murmurous deeps to living water, bright with ripples and foam.”