Swamps and Rivers

The difference between a river and a swamp is that one has banks and the
other has none. The swamp is very gracious and kindly, it spreads over
everything, hence it is a swamp. Some of us are moral and spiritual
swamps. We are so broad and liberal that we take in everything from the
shady to the sacred. Hence we are swamps. A river has banks - it
confines itself to its central purpose. The civilizations of the world
organize themselves not around swamps, but around rivers.

Attributed to E. Stanley Jones