--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I mused that time is not only a river…" description: "\"“I mused that time is not only a river, but a river that constantly breaks its banks so you must flee from it as it covers everything behind your back,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/550/jens-christian-gr-ndahl-53146_fitting_i-mused-that-time-is-not-only-a-river-bu_2297139.jpg" --- # I mused that time is not only a river, but a river that… ![“I mused that time is not only a river, but a river that constantly breaks its banks so you must flee from it as it covers everything behind your back, flee into the future, empty-handed, dispossessed, as the river obliterates your footsteps with each stride you take, each time you pass from one…” quote by Jens Christian Grøndahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/550/jens-christian-gr-ndahl-53146_fitting_i-mused-that-time-is-not-only-a-river-bu_2297139.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/550/jens-christian-gr-ndahl-53146_fitting_i-mused-that-time-is-not-only-a-river-bu_2297139.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/550/jens-christian-gr-ndahl-53146_fitting_i-mused-that-time-is-not-only-a-river-bu_2297139.jpg) > ““I mused that time is not only a river, but a river that constantly breaks its banks so you must flee from it as it covers everything behind your back, flee into the future, empty-handed, dispossessed, as the river obliterates your footsteps with each stride you take, each time you pass from one moment to the next.”” [Jens Christian Grøndahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Time relentlessly moves forward, erasing the past, urging us to confront the unknown future without certainty. **In simple terms:** Time flows, erasing past, forcing forward motion. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty and act despite unknowns. Themes time impermanence change future uncertainty acceptance Mood reflective melancholic Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career planning - grieving loss - making decisions - creative projects Key Concepts Existentialism temporal flow human resilience Questions to Reflect On - What does it mean to live fully in the present? - How can we prepare for inevitable change? A Different Perspective May cause anxiety about lack of control. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Sad but true](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sad-but-true/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-jordan/for-all-of-its-uncertainty-we-cannot-flee-the-future/) [Barbara Jordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-jordan/) > [The vanity of human life is like a river, constantly passing away, and yet constantly coming on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/the-vanity-of-human-life-is-like-a-river-constantly-passing-away-and/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eartha-kitt/the-river-is-constantly-turning-and-bending-and-you-never-know-where/) [Eartha Kitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eartha-kitt/) > [Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorge-luis-borges/time-is-the-substance-from-which-i-am-made-time-is-a-river-which/) [Jorge Luis Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorge-luis-borges/) > [“Time is a river, I've learned. Always moving forward. But for people like me, people who have loved and lost, the river is something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-j-klune/time-is-a-river-i-ve-learned-always-moving-forward-but-for-people/) [T.J. Klune](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-j-klune/) > [“Time is only the river of memory.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-neil-orr/time-is-only-the-river-of-memory/) Elaine Neil Orr > [Time is a river of …..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/time-is-a-river-of/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [What is time to a water rat? What is time to the river? Only we humans obsess over days and minutes, hours and seasons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-is-time-to-a-water-rat-what-is-time-to-the-river-only-we-humans/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Time is the thing I am made of. Time is a river that sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorge-luis-borges/time-is-the-thing-i-am-made-of-time-is-a-river-that-sweeps-me-along/) [Jorge Luis Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorge-luis-borges/) > [“For men, time is a river. We are trapped in its flow, hurtling from past to present, always in the same direction. The lives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-r-r-martin/for-men-time-is-a-river-we-are-trapped-in-its-flow-hurtling-from-past/) [George R.R. Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-r-r-martin/) > [Time is a river sweeping away all that is born towards the darkest shore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-lix-j-palma/time-is-a-river-sweeping-away-all-that-is-born-towards-the-darkest/) [Félix J. Palma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-lix-j-palma/) > [“Time is the river. We are the islands. Time washes around us and flows away and with it flow fragments of our lives. So,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-way-teale/time-is-the-river-we-are-the-islands-time-washes-around-us-and-flows/) [Edwin Way Teale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-way-teale/) > [“But time’s a river, Locke, and we’ve always drifted farther down it than we think.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-lynch/but-time-s-a-river-locke-and-we-ve-always-drifted-farther-down-it/) [Scott Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-lynch/) > [Time is a river of passing events and we are the fish searching for an ocean.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/time-is-a-river-of-passing-events-and-we-are-the-fish-searching-for/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time?" That the river is everywhere at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/have-you-also-learned-that-secret-from-the-river-that-there-is-no/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) ## More by Jens Christian Grøndahl > [“One evening in April a thirty-two-year-old woman, unconscious and severely injured, was admitted to the hospital in a provincial town south of Copenhagen. She…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/one-evening-in-april-a-thirty-two-year-old-woman-unconscious-and/) [Jens Christian Grøndahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/) > [“We underestimate the power of habit while we’re young, and we underestimate the grace of it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/we-underestimate-the-power-of-habit-while-we-re-young-and-we/) [Jens Christian Grøndahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/) > [“From Tomorrow to Yesterday The tree trunks move in time with the rhythm of her rubber soles on the wet path, where the air…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/from-tomorrow-to-yesterday-the-tree-trunks-move-in-time-with-the/) [Jens Christian Grøndahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/) > [“Sometimes I think you take photographs instead of seeing, you forget to look in your eagerness to grasp what is seen, to capture it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/sometimes-i-think-you-take-photographs-instead-of-seeing-you-forget/) [Jens Christian Grøndahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/) > [“Am I being unfair? Is it only my self-hatred playing me a trick? Self-hatred is a gendered feeling: in a man it makes him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/am-i-being-unfair-is-it-only-my-self-hatred-playing-me-a-trick-self/) [Jens Christian Grøndahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/) [Explore all 6 Jens Christian Grøndahl quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/) ## More Fitting quotes > [I have often wondered how they manage to get return envelopes which miss, by one-quarter of an inch, fitting the blank you are supposed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-benchley/i-have-often-wondered-how-they-manage-to-get-return-envelopes-which/) [Robert Benchley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-benchley/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Ill-fitting grammar are like ill-fitting shoes. You can get used to it for a bit, but then one day your toes fall off and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-fforde/ill-fitting-grammar-are-like-ill-fitting-shoes-you-can-get-used-to-it/) [Jasper Fforde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-fforde/) > [I have always been thinking about the sounds and shades and aromas of words - fitting them together or disrupting their customary march -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-pinsky/i-have-always-been-thinking-about-the-sounds-and-shades-and-aromas-of/) [Robert Pinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-pinsky/) > [I have a dress fitting to get to at three.' (Simon) 'Cool,' said Kyle, slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder and heading for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/i-have-a-dress-fitting-to-get-to-at-three-simon-cool-said-kyle/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [There are a few people out there with whom you fit just so, and, amazingly, you keep fitting just so even after you have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-f-winner/there-are-a-few-people-out-there-with-whom-you-fit-just-so-and/) [Lauren F. Winner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-f-winner/) > [Let us read the Bible without the ill-fitting colored spectacles of theology, just as we read other books, using our judgment and reason. . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luther-burbank/let-us-read-the-bible-without-the-ill-fitting-colored-spectacles-of/) [Luther Burbank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luther-burbank/) > [Rest is the fitting of self to its sphere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-sullivan-dwight/rest-is-the-fitting-of-self-to-its-sphere/) John Sullivan Dwight > [Kindle Singles is publishing on skates. It prints like lightning; our book meets readers in hours. I've spent so many years waiting for publishers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-bach/kindle-singles-is-publishing-on-skates-it-prints-like-lightning-our/) [Richard Bach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-bach/) > [During the Olympics they're really strict about what you're allowed to wear. You get a lot of clothes, but everything is pre-ordered. We had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henrik-lundqvist/during-the-olympics-they-re-really-strict-about-what-you-re-allowed/) [Henrik Lundqvist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henrik-lundqvist/) > [The American flag is an enduring symbol of liberty, democracy, and justice. It is fitting that the House act to protect it as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-american-flag-is-an-enduring-symbol-of-liberty-democracy-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Christianity without the cross is nothing. The cross was the fitting close of a life of rejection, scorn and defeat. But in no true…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-kelvin/christianity-without-the-cross-is-nothing-the-cross-was-the-fitting/) [Lord Kelvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-kelvin/) > [They have just succeeded in raising the two thousand pounds here, by subscription, that was wanted towards an exploration fund, for fitting out an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-john-wills/they-have-just-succeeded-in-raising-the-two-thousand-pounds-here-by/) [William John Wills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-john-wills/) > [I was born in St. Louis and lived in Pittsburgh for a bit, before my family moved to Nigeria, where they're from. We lived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/babatunde-adebimpe/i-was-born-in-st-louis-and-lived-in-pittsburgh-for-a-bit-before-my/) [Babatunde Adebimpe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/babatunde-adebimpe/) > [I spent a lot of my childhood not fitting in, in a lot of different ways.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wil-wheaton/i-spent-a-lot-of-my-childhood-not-fitting-in-in-a-lot-of-different/) [Wil Wheaton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wil-wheaton/) Browse all 412 Fitting quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I mused that time is not only a river, but a river that constantly breaks its banks so you must flee from it as it covers everything behind your back, flee into the future, empty-handed, dispossessed, as the river obliterates your footsteps with each stride you take, each time you pass from one moment to the next.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jens Christian Grøndahl" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/i-mused-that-time-is-not-only-a-river-but-a-river-that-constantly/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Fitting" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/i-mused-that-time-is-not-only-a-river-but-a-river-that-constantly/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/550/jens-christian-gr-ndahl-53146_fitting_i-mused-that-time-is-not-only-a-river-bu_2297139.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/550/jens-christian-gr-ndahl-53146_fitting_i-mused-that-time-is-not-only-a-river-bu_2297139.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/550/jens-christian-gr-ndahl-53146_fitting_i-mused-that-time-is-not-only-a-river-bu_2297139.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I mused that time is not only a river, but a river that constantly breaks its banks so you must flee from it…” — Jens Christian Grøndahl", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jens Christian Grøndahl", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“I mused that time is not...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/i-mused-that-time-is-not-only-a-river-but-a-river-that-constantly/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jens-christian-gr-ndahl/i-mused-that-time-is-not-only-a-river-but-a-river-that-constantly/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```