Matthew Moseley (58, USA, MSF bio here, @matthew.l.moseley) regularly does unprecedented swims – down rivers, across lakes, in seas) to support marine environmentalism (see video below).
Most recently this June, he swam 27.3 km on the Colorado River from the Moab Boat Ramp to Potash Point in 4 hours 30 minutes, another pioneering swim for the author. He explains, “I swam for American Rivers to protect free-flowing rivers throughout the US. There is something surreal about the juxtaposition of swimming in a cold river through a scorching desert. It was an amazing adventure, but it was the support team that made it greater than the sum of its parts. The Colorado River is arguably the most beautiful — and endangered — river in the United States. As Jim Harrison wrote, “In a life properly lived, you’re a river.”
The relentlessly restless environmentalist and communications specialist is now working on a project called Words on Water: Quotes and Reflections on Rivers, Lakes, and Oceans.
He is searching for favorite quotes about water from open water swimmers around the world, “I’m looking for hidden gems and unique sources. Feel free to send more than one. It can also be something in your own words about how water inspires and moves you. Quotes should be submitted to mmoseley@ignitionstrategygroup.com by October 1st 2025 to be acknowledged.”
Below are a sample list of quotes Moseley has compiled for the project:
Mark Twain in Two Ways of Seeing A River, “The face of the water, in time, became a wonderful book – a book that was a dead language to the uneducated passenger, but which told its mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as clearly as it uttered them with a voice. And it was not a book to be read once and thrown aside, for it had a new story to tell everyday.“
Poet, novelist, and essayist Jim Harrison, “In a life properly lived, you’re a river. You touch things lightly or deeply; you move along because life herself moves, and you can’t stop it; you can’t figure out a banal game plan applicable to all situations; you just have to go with the ‘beingness’ of life.+
Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher Hercalitus, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.“
Leonardo da Vinci, “Water is the driving force of all nature.”
Anthropologist, educator, philosopher, and natural science writer Loren Eiseley, “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.“
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, AC, “We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.“
Poet W. H. Auden, “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.“
Philosopher and author Lao Tzu, “Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.“
Poet, theologian, and mystic Rumi, “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the ocean in a single drop.
Biochemist Albert Imre Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt, “Water is life’s matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.“
Writer, poet and visual artist Kahlil Gibran, “In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans.“
Poet, nurse, and advocate Laura Gilpin, “A river seems a magic thing. A magic, moving, living part of the very earth itself.“
Author Isak Dinesen, “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.”
Tragedian (playwrite) Sophocles, “The oaths of a woman I inscribe on water.“
Singer, songwriter and actor David Bowie, “I’m an instant star. Just add water and stir.“
© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“
World Open Water Swimming Federation, a human-powered project.