--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You are no failure, on a river. The water…" description: "\"“You are no failure, on a river. The water moves regardless - for all it cares, you might be a minnow or a tadpole, a turtle on a beavered log. You mig..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42a/leif-enger-8880_failure_you-are-no-failure-on-a-river-the-water_2467738.jpg" --- # You are no failure, on a river. The water moves regardless… ![“You are no failure, on a river. The water moves regardless - for all it cares, you might be a minnow or a tadpole, a turtle on a beavered log. You might be nothing at all.” quote by Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42a/leif-enger-8880_failure_you-are-no-failure-on-a-river-the-water_2467738.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42a/leif-enger-8880_failure_you-are-no-failure-on-a-river-the-water_2467738.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42a/leif-enger-8880_failure_you-are-no-failure-on-a-river-the-water_2467738.jpg) > ““You are no failure, on a river. The water moves regardless - for all it cares, you might be a minnow or a tadpole, a turtle on a beavered log. You might be nothing at all.”” [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life flows regardless of status; humility reminds us that all beings share the same currents. **In simple terms:** Life moves on, status doesn’t matter. Key Takeaway Embrace humility. Themes philosophy humility existence Mood contemplative hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal reflection - creative writing - spiritual practice Key Concepts nature self‑worth Questions to Reflect On - How does recognizing shared flow affect self‑esteem? - What practices foster humility? A Different Perspective One may feel insignificant in a vast world. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [River](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/river/) ## Related quotes > [The more rapidly the water moves, the lighter it seems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathy-acker/the-more-rapidly-the-water-moves-the-lighter-it-seems/) [Kathy Acker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathy-acker/) > [Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-h-tawney/freedom-for-the-pike-is-death-for-the-minnow/) [R. H. Tawney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-h-tawney/) > [“It is a hot summer day in Tennessee in the midst of the sixth decade of this century. The girl has climbed the fence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-griffin/it-is-a-hot-summer-day-in-tennessee-in-the-midst-of-the-sixth-decade/) [Susan Griffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-griffin/) > [“Water that never moves." I say to him. "Its fine for a little while. You can drink from it and it'll sustain you. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahereh-mafi/water-that-never-moves-i-say-to-him-its-fine-for-a-little-while-you/) [Tahereh Mafi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahereh-mafi/) > [“The steel blue of the fern-fringed pool where the water rests a little before cascading over rock and shingle to draw breath again in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-corbett/the-steel-blue-of-the-fern-fringed-pool-where-the-water-rests-a/) [Jim Corbett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-corbett/) > [“I want Adam to be happy, Kenji, I really do. But he and I would end up like water going nowhere." "What do you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahereh-mafi/i-want-adam-to-be-happy-kenji-i-really-do-but-he-and-i-would-end-up/) [Tahereh Mafi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahereh-mafi/) > [I usually fish a Hornberg or a Muddler Minnow, a deer-haired streamer that comes in a variety of sizes and colors but replicates a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-monninger/i-usually-fish-a-hornberg-or-a-muddler-minnow-a-deer-haired-streamer/) [Joseph Monninger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-monninger/) > [“He turns the pages from right to left. He begins at the beginning and ends at the end. This makes a quirky sense to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/he-turns-the-pages-from-right-to-left-he-begins-at-the-beginning-and/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [“...a pretty little minnow...cool as rain, blue as heaven...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-hoffman/a-pretty-little-minnow-cool-as-rain-blue-as-heaven/) [Alice Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-hoffman/) > [“If I have to dangle myself in the water like a freaking minnow, I will. Those people don't deserve this type of treatment. ~Willow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-gober/if-i-have-to-dangle-myself-in-the-water-like-a-freaking-minnow-i-will/) [Rebecca Gober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-gober/) > [I become a waterwheel, turning and tasting you, as long as water moves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/i-become-a-waterwheel-turning-and-tasting-you-as-long-as-water-moves/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [“He and I would end up like water going nowhere. Water that never moves-- It's fine for a little while. You can drink from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahereh-mafi/he-and-i-would-end-up-like-water-going-nowhere-water-that-never-moves/) [Tahereh Mafi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahereh-mafi/) > [Never attempt to catch a whale with a minnow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-t-barnum/never-attempt-to-catch-a-whale-with-a-minnow/) [P. T. Barnum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-t-barnum/) > [“she looks into my eyes as if trying to catch the image of a minnow that has darted across the pool of a limpid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/she-looks-into-my-eyes-as-if-trying-to-catch-the-image-of-a-minnow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There are so many symptoms of this disease it's hard to know where to start to catalogue them, but just look at the effects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/there-are-so-many-symptoms-of-this-disease-it-s-hard-to-know-where-to/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) ## More by Leif Enger > [“A line only gets grace when it curves, you know.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/a-line-only-gets-grace-when-it-curves-you-know/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [Of all facial expressions, which is the worst to have aimed at you? Wouldn't you agree it's disgust?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/of-all-facial-expressions-which-is-the-worst-to-have-aimed-at-you/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [“Let me say something about that word: miracle. For too long it's been used to characterize things or events that, though pleasant, are entirely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/let-me-say-something-about-that-word-miracle-for-too-long-it-s-been/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [“I breathe deeply, and certainty enters into me like light, like a piece of science, and curious music seems to hum inside my fingers.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/i-breathe-deeply-and-certainty-enters-into-me-like-light-like-a-piece/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [Pride is the rope God allows us all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/pride-is-the-rope-god-allows-us-all/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [Sometimes heroism is nothing more than patience, curiosity, and a refusal to panic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/sometimes-heroism-is-nothing-more-than-patience-curiosity-and-a/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [“Someday, you know, we're going to be shown the great ledger of our recorded decisions-a dread concept you nonetheless know in your deepest soul…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/someday-you-know-we-re-going-to-be-shown-the-great-ledger-of-our/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [“Dewey Hall was the only building on campus not made of brick, and the tornado came for it in absolute maturity, no umbilical growth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/dewey-hall-was-the-only-building-on-campus-not-made-of-brick-and-the/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [“If you can’t talk sense, don’t talk at all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/if-you-can-t-talk-sense-don-t-talk-at-all/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [“You can embark on new and steeper versions of your old sin, you know, and cry tears doing it that are genuine as any.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/you-can-embark-on-new-and-steeper-versions-of-your-old-sin-you-know/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [Real miracles bother people, like strange sudden pains unknown in medical literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/real-miracles-bother-people-like-strange-sudden-pains-unknown-in/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [It is one thing to say you're at war with this whole world and stick your chest out believing it, but when the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/it-is-one-thing-to-say-you-re-at-war-with-this-whole-world-and-stick/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [“It is one thing to be sick of your own infirmities and another to understand that the people you love most are sick of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/it-is-one-thing-to-be-sick-of-your-own-infirmities-and-another-to/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [Be careful whom you choose to hate. The small and the vulnerable own a protection great enough, if you could but see it, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/be-careful-whom-you-choose-to-hate-the-small-and-the-vulnerable-own-a/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) > [Once torched by truth...a little thing like faith is easy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/once-torched-by-truth-a-little-thing-like-faith-is-easy/) [Leif Enger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) [Explore all 77 Leif Enger quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/) ## More Failure quotes > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. You can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kym-marsh/when-you-do-things-they-re-absolutely-right-at-that-time-for-you-and/) [Kym Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kym-marsh/) > [Failures happen. You can't cry over them. You just take it in your stride because you know that you have done your best... Sometimes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/divya-dutta/failures-happen-you-can-t-cry-over-them-you-just-take-it-in-your/) [Divya Dutta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/divya-dutta/) > [No one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/groucho-marx/no-one-is-completely-unhappy-at-the-failure-of-his-best-friend/) [Groucho Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/groucho-marx/) > [“Rhiannon's Law #28: If you're going to fuck up, be sure to fuck up good and proper. Nothing makes failure acceptable, so you might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/rhiannon-s-law-28-if-you-re-going-to-fuck-up-be-sure-to-fuck-up-good/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Failure is a part of life and you have to learn to deal with it. Failure is something that is part of life's cycle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-powell/failure-is-a-part-of-life-and-you-have-to-learn-to-deal-with-it/) [Colin Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-powell/) > [If my child had prejudice in his head, I'd be ashamed. I would see it as my failure as a parent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-my-child-had-prejudice-in-his-head-i-d-be-ashamed-i-would-see-it/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [First action was a mistake. What about the second? third? fourth and fifth?...Mehn you are bad...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/first-action-was-a-mistake-what-about-the-second-third-fourth-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [God's love never fail :)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/god-s-love-never-fail/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Don’t you just hate nights like that, when you think over every mistake you’ve made, every hurt you’ve received, every bit of meanness you’ve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlaine-harris/don-t-you-just-hate-nights-like-that-when-you-think-over-every/) [Charlaine Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlaine-harris/) > [“Our failure to understand another being's inner reality doesn't make that reality any less real, or any less valuable to that being. (p.255)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-schulz/our-failure-to-understand-another-being-s-inner-reality-doesn-t-make/) [Kathryn Schulz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-schulz/) > [I hope that the Palestinians don't make the mistake of unleashing a new intifada. They've tried it twice before, and the consequences were bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-segev/i-hope-that-the-palestinians-don-t-make-the-mistake-of-unleashing-a/) [Tom Segev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-segev/) > [Don't take too much comfort in the fact that you're successful today because tomorrow could bring failure. There's no surety in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-savage/don-t-take-too-much-comfort-in-the-fact-that-you-re-successful-today/) [Michael Savage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-savage/) > [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [failure in the theater is more public, more brilliant, more unreal than in any other field.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/failure-in-the-theater-is-more-public-more-brilliant-more-unreal-than/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [As we are coming to the end of the year, I want you to forget about the past, the failure, the negative thoughts or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-we-are-coming-to-the-end-of-the-year-i-want-you-to-forget-about/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 27,498 Failure quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“You are no failure, on a river. The water moves regardless - for all it cares, you might be a minnow or a tadpole, a turtle on a beavered log. You might be nothing at all.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leif Enger" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/you-are-no-failure-on-a-river-the-water-moves-regardless-for-all-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Failure" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/you-are-no-failure-on-a-river-the-water-moves-regardless-for-all-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42a/leif-enger-8880_failure_you-are-no-failure-on-a-river-the-water_2467738.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42a/leif-enger-8880_failure_you-are-no-failure-on-a-river-the-water_2467738.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42a/leif-enger-8880_failure_you-are-no-failure-on-a-river-the-water_2467738.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You are no failure, on a river. The water moves regardless - for all it cares, you might be a minnow or a…” — Leif Enger", "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": "Leif Enger", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leif-enger/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“You are no failure, on a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/you-are-no-failure-on-a-river-the-water-moves-regardless-for-all-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leif-enger/you-are-no-failure-on-a-river-the-water-moves-regardless-for-all-it/#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 } } ] } ```