What do you think?
Rate this book
Little Rivers: A Book of Essays in Profitable Idleness
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
- GenresNonfiction
372 pages, Paperback
First published December 23, 2012
6 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
Henry Van Dyke
920 books84 followersHenry Van Dyke (1852-1933) was an American Presbyterian clergyman, educator, and author. He graduated from Princeton in 1873, and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1874. He was pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church, New York City (1883-99), professor of English literature at Princeton (1899-1923), and U.S. minister to the Netherlands (1913-16).
Among his popular inspirational writings is the Christmas story The Other Wise Man (1896). As President Wilson's ambassador to the Netherlands from 1913, Van Dyke was a first-hand witness to the outbreak of World War I and its progress, and was a key player in the President's diplomatic efforts to keep the U.S. out of the conflict.
Not to be confused with his father, Henry J. Van Dyke (1822-1891).
For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/van-dyke...
Among his popular inspirational writings is the Christmas story The Other Wise Man (1896). As President Wilson's ambassador to the Netherlands from 1913, Van Dyke was a first-hand witness to the outbreak of World War I and its progress, and was a key player in the President's diplomatic efforts to keep the U.S. out of the conflict.
Not to be confused with his father, Henry J. Van Dyke (1822-1891).
For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/van-dyke...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 22, 2025
Besides the endless descriptions of fishing, I actually really liked this book!
The fact that it is an original edition with notations from a reader in 1905 definitely made it all the more interesting (even though I couldn’t decipher most the notations).
The book is more poetic and anecdotal than anything, but I think it reflects the idea of profitable idleness really well. Obviously what you deem as idleness that is profitable to you is personal- this guys was rivers and fishing (hence the descriptions of fishing). I think the idea of having something deemed completely “unproductive” in this day and age especially out in nature- catch and release fishing, camping, climbing trees, etc. is a really healthy ideal, despite not being something encouraged in capitalist societies.
And this book has some great quotes. Some listed below that I had written down:
“There is such a thing as taking ourselves and the world too seriously, or at any rate too anxiously.
Half of the secular unrest and dismal, profane sadness of modern society comes from the vain idea that every man is bound to be a critic of life, and to let no day pass without finding some fault with the general order of things, or projecting some plan for its improvement. And the other half comes from the greedy notion that a man's life does consist, after all, in the abundance of the things that he possesses, and that it is somehow or other more respectable and pious to be always at work making a larger living, than it is to lie on your back in the green pastures and beside the still waters, and thank God that you are alive.”
“It is not required of every man and woman to be, or to do, something great; most of us must content ourselves with taking small parts in the chorus.”
“Little rivers seem to have the indefinable quality that belongs to certain people in the world,- the power of drawing attention without courting it, the faculty of exciting interest by their very presence and way of doing things.”
“"I confess," says the poet Cowley, "I love Littleness almost in all things. A little convenient Estate, a little chearful House, a little Company, and a very little Feast, and if I were ever to fall in Love lagain, (which is a great Passion, and therefore, I hope, I have done with it,) it would be, I think, with Prettiness, rather than with Majestical Beauty.”
“Every river that flows is good, and has something worthy to be loved. But those that we love most are always the ones that we have known best,”
The fact that it is an original edition with notations from a reader in 1905 definitely made it all the more interesting (even though I couldn’t decipher most the notations).
The book is more poetic and anecdotal than anything, but I think it reflects the idea of profitable idleness really well. Obviously what you deem as idleness that is profitable to you is personal- this guys was rivers and fishing (hence the descriptions of fishing). I think the idea of having something deemed completely “unproductive” in this day and age especially out in nature- catch and release fishing, camping, climbing trees, etc. is a really healthy ideal, despite not being something encouraged in capitalist societies.
And this book has some great quotes. Some listed below that I had written down:
“There is such a thing as taking ourselves and the world too seriously, or at any rate too anxiously.
Half of the secular unrest and dismal, profane sadness of modern society comes from the vain idea that every man is bound to be a critic of life, and to let no day pass without finding some fault with the general order of things, or projecting some plan for its improvement. And the other half comes from the greedy notion that a man's life does consist, after all, in the abundance of the things that he possesses, and that it is somehow or other more respectable and pious to be always at work making a larger living, than it is to lie on your back in the green pastures and beside the still waters, and thank God that you are alive.”
“It is not required of every man and woman to be, or to do, something great; most of us must content ourselves with taking small parts in the chorus.”
“Little rivers seem to have the indefinable quality that belongs to certain people in the world,- the power of drawing attention without courting it, the faculty of exciting interest by their very presence and way of doing things.”
“"I confess," says the poet Cowley, "I love Littleness almost in all things. A little convenient Estate, a little chearful House, a little Company, and a very little Feast, and if I were ever to fall in Love lagain, (which is a great Passion, and therefore, I hope, I have done with it,) it would be, I think, with Prettiness, rather than with Majestical Beauty.”
“Every river that flows is good, and has something worthy to be loved. But those that we love most are always the ones that we have known best,”
October 31, 2017
A former student recommended this book to me, and I am glad he did. This is a delightful book that took me away to the woods to hear the birds, the flow of the rivers, and the thwacks of the fish on the rivers. The book reminds me of Izaak Walton work. Written in the late 1800s, this book is a travelogue in so many ways. Travel to Canada, the Maritimes, the Adirondacks, northern Italy, Austria. Enjoy the countryside, smell the flowers, listen to the birds, do a little fishing, fry up those trout and salmon, and enjoy!
January 6, 2017
One of my favourite books, and author.
March 2, 2008
"There's no music like a little river's. It plays the same tune (and that's the favorite) over and over again, and yet does not weary of it like men fiddlers. It takes the mind out of doors; and though we should be grateful for good houses, there is, after all, no house like God's out of doors. And lastly, sir, it quiets a man down like saying his prayers." - Robert Louis Stevenson
Want to read
July 29, 2012Discovered an 1898 Scribner edition of this little gem in a bookcase nook in the parlor of Linden Hill today. Being a water/river person myself, I just had to take a peek at it. Found some wonderful wonderful bits and copied out a paragraph I love. Searched out a used copy from an old printing with the same green and cameo cover.
October 29, 2025
A delightful little book. If you are a nature lover and particularly if you are into fly fishing, it's worth reading. VanDyke travels to Europe and northern Canada primarily for his fishing adventures. Calming descriptions of beautiful landscapes.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews