--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: People are rivers, always ready to move…" description: "\"People are rivers, always ready to move from one state of being into another. It is not fair, to treat people as if they are finished beings. Everyone ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12b/kathleen-winter-32150_becoming_people-are-rivers-always-ready-to-move-f_1248785.jpg" --- # People are rivers, always ready to move from one state of… ![“People are rivers, always ready to move from one state of being into another. It is not fair, to treat people as if they are finished beings. Everyone is always becoming and unbecoming.” quote by Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12b/kathleen-winter-32150_becoming_people-are-rivers-always-ready-to-move-f_1248785.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12b/kathleen-winter-32150_becoming_people-are-rivers-always-ready-to-move-f_1248785.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12b/kathleen-winter-32150_becoming_people-are-rivers-always-ready-to-move-f_1248785.jpg) > “People are rivers, always ready to move from one state of being into another. It is not fair, to treat people as if they are finished beings. Everyone is always becoming and unbecoming.” [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People are constantly evolving; treating them as static denies their ongoing transformation. **In simple terms:** People change constantly; don’t view them as fixed. Key Takeaway Accept and support continual personal growth. Themes psychology human development identity Mood empathetic reflective Type motivational philosophical When to use this quote - relationships - education - career counseling - personal coaching - social work Key Concepts fluidity becoming self-concept Questions to Reflect On - How can we foster environments that honor change? - What biases arise from seeing people as finished? A Different Perspective Assuming permanence can limit empathy and adaptability. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rivers/) [Unbecoming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unbecoming/) ## Related quotes > [“It was not fair, she felt, to treat people as if they were finished beings. Everyone was always becoming and unbecoming.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/it-was-not-fair-she-felt-to-treat-people-as-if-they-were-finished/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“She was not a person who froze someone’s character in her mind, calling this one egotistical and that one not nearly confident enough and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/she-was-not-a-person-who-froze-someone-s-character-in-her-mind/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [When you start separating people from their rivers, what have you got? Bureaucracy!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kerouac/when-you-start-separating-people-from-their-rivers-what-have-you-got/) [Jack Kerouac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kerouac/) > [I've always felt like we're all human beings and we're all basically given the tools to make whatever choices we want to make. How…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-bauer/i-ve-always-felt-like-we-re-all-human-beings-and-we-re-all-basically/) [Chris Bauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-bauer/) > [The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/the-path-of-awakening-is-not-about-becoming-who-you-are-rather-it-is/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) > [Whining is just unbecoming.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/whining-is-just-unbecoming/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [Nothing is more unbecoming to a teacher of the Word than flippancy. He must be serious and should not act like a clown.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/nothing-is-more-unbecoming-to-a-teacher-of-the-word-than-flippancy-he/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [He is a good man, who can receive a gift well. We are either glad or sorry at a gift, and both emotions are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/he-is-a-good-man-who-can-receive-a-gift-well-we-are-either-glad-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Unbecoming forwardness oftener proceeds from ignorance than impudence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-fulke-greville/unbecoming-forwardness-oftener-proceeds-from-ignorance-than-impudence/) [Sir Fulke Greville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sir-fulke-greville/) > [Personal size and mental sorrow have certainly no necessary proportions. A large bulky figure has a good a right to be in deep affliction,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/personal-size-and-mental-sorrow-have-certainly-no-necessary/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [It's unbecoming," she agreed. "A perfect word for my new life. Unbecoming. I who have always been unbecoming am becoming un.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-maguire/it-s-unbecoming-she-agreed-a-perfect-word-for-my-new-life-unbecoming/) [Gregory Maguire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-maguire/) > [However, I think anything is better than high intellectual pressure. That is the most unbecoming thing there is. It makes the noses of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/however-i-think-anything-is-better-than-high-intellectual-pressure/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [As an occupation in declining years, I declare I think saving is useful, amusing and not unbecoming. It must be a perpetual amusement. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-makepeace-thackeray/as-an-occupation-in-declining-years-i-declare-i-think-saving-is/) [William Makepeace Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-makepeace-thackeray/) > [There is nothing more unbecoming a man of quality than to laugh ... 'tis such a vulgar expression of the passion!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-congreve/there-is-nothing-more-unbecoming-a-man-of-quality-than-to-laugh-tis/) [William Congreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-congreve/) > [“Suspicion is an unbecoming passion.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/suspicion-is-an-unbecoming-passion/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Kathleen Winter > [“It was not fair, she felt, to treat people as if they were finished beings. Everyone was always becoming and unbecoming.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/it-was-not-fair-she-felt-to-treat-people-as-if-they-were-finished/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“You might want to sit in public squares and people watch for an hour in one place and a month in another. I can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/you-might-want-to-sit-in-public-squares-and-people-watch-for-an-hour/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“She was not a person who froze someone’s character in her mind, calling this one egotistical and that one not nearly confident enough and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/she-was-not-a-person-who-froze-someone-s-character-in-her-mind/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“Whenever she imagined her child, grown up without interference from a judgemental world, she imagined its male and female halves as complementing each other,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/whenever-she-imagined-her-child-grown-up-without-interference-from-a/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“Sometimes you had to be who you were and endure what happened to you, and to you alone, before you could understand the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/sometimes-you-had-to-be-who-you-were-and-endure-what-happened-to-you/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“Why would a white caribou come down to Beaver River, where the woodland herd lives? Why would she leave the Arctic tundra, where the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/why-would-a-white-caribou-come-down-to-beaver-river-where-the/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“It came from a different person, a person who had learned how to build a voice from the ruins up, a person who had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/it-came-from-a-different-person-a-person-who-had-learned-how-to-build/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [I think my writing process changes as I gain more life experience... It has taken me many years to be able to write a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/i-think-my-writing-process-changes-as-i-gain-more-life-experience-it/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“She waited the eternal instant that women wait when a horror jumps out at them. It is an instant that men do not use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/she-waited-the-eternal-instant-that-women-wait-when-a-horror-jumps/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“He had to remind himself that the work of a surgeon is poetry of a kind, in which blood is the meaning and flesh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/he-had-to-remind-himself-that-the-work-of-a-surgeon-is-poetry-of-a/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“The lullaby had the kind of tune everyone thinks they've heard before but can't remember where. A tune like that floats in the air…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/the-lullaby-had-the-kind-of-tune-everyone-thinks-they-ve-heard-before/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“It came from a different person, a person who had learned how to build a voice from the ruins up, a person who had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/it-came-from-a-different-person-a-person-who-had-learned-how-to-build-2/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“If a person knits as you speak of the past, you can become mesmerized. As the yarn unwinds from its skein your memories naturally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/if-a-person-knits-as-you-speak-of-the-past-you-can-become-mesmerized/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“This was a passage in which everyone moved and was unfathomable, which was how Thomasina saw people. She was not a person who froze…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/this-was-a-passage-in-which-everyone-moved-and-was-unfathomable-which/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) > [“Point of view is everything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-winter/point-of-view-is-everything/) [Kathleen Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) [Explore all 16 Kathleen Winter quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-winter/) ## More Becoming quotes > [Focus on becoming more to achieve more while doing less](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-elrod/focus-on-becoming-more-to-achieve-more-while-doing-less/) [Hal Elrod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-elrod/) > [If the media is sending girls the message that their value lies in their bodies, this can only leave them feeling disempowered and distract…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-siebel-newsom/if-the-media-is-sending-girls-the-message-that-their-value-lies-in/) Jennifer Siebel Newsom > [But I already saw no great difference between the psyche and spirituality. To amass knowledge without becoming wise is not my idea of progress…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-scott-peck/but-i-already-saw-no-great-difference-between-the-psyche-and/) [M. Scott Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-scott-peck/) > [It's easy to say, let's go in and get the bad guys. But you have a divided country of Sunnis and Shias. The United…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tulsi-gabbard/it-s-easy-to-say-let-s-go-in-and-get-the-bad-guys-but-you-have-a/) [Tulsi Gabbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tulsi-gabbard/) > [The path I choose through the maze makes me what I am. I am not only a thing, but also a way of being--one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keyes/the-path-i-choose-through-the-maze-makes-me-what-i-am-i-am-not-only-a/) [Daniel Keyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keyes/) > [Becoming famous is a really shocking thing, especially when you don't have aspirations to it. It got to the point where I would try…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-moyet/becoming-famous-is-a-really-shocking-thing-especially-when-you-don-t/) [Alison Moyet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-moyet/) > [When other boys dreamt of going to the moon or becoming doctors, I wanted to be a designer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivier-theyskens/when-other-boys-dreamt-of-going-to-the-moon-or-becoming-doctors-i/) [Olivier Theyskens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivier-theyskens/) > [One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius; and the feminine situation has up to the present rendered this becoming practically impossible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/one-is-not-born-a-genius-one-becomes-a-genius-and-the-feminine/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [The dream of coming back is becoming a reality. A lot of the uncertainty about the future has been cleared up. A lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tagliabue/the-dream-of-coming-back-is-becoming-a-reality-a-lot-of-the/) [Paul Tagliabue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tagliabue/) > [I'm getting to a point where everything is becoming streamlined in my life. I'm learning how to stand onstage for two hours and play…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mayer/i-m-getting-to-a-point-where-everything-is-becoming-streamlined-in-my/) [John Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mayer/) > [The term 'Pre-Raphaelite' is in danger of becoming one of the most misused tags in art history](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-wood/the-term-pre-raphaelite-is-in-danger-of-becoming-one-of-the-most/) Christopher Wood > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [The reason so many of us are obsessed with becoming stars is because we are not yet starring in our own lives. The cosmic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/the-reason-so-many-of-us-are-obsessed-with-becoming-stars-is-because/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [In a personal way, to do with family and the father-son relationship, in a kind of artistic way with regard to him being an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-serkis/in-a-personal-way-to-do-with-family-and-the-father-son-relationship/) [Andy Serkis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-serkis/) > [Trying to be perfect may be inevitable for people who are smart and ambitious and interested in the world and its good opinion...What is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/trying-to-be-perfect-may-be-inevitable-for-people-who-are-smart-and/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) Browse all 4,715 Becoming quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "People are rivers, always ready to move from one state of being into another. 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