“Each thing by Destiny
So hastens to grow worse, and backward goes;
As one against a stream his Vessel rowes,
Who if by chance his arm a little slack,
The Boat in the swift Chanel hurries back.”

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 39, De Bois-Guilbert speaking to Rebecca.

Variant: It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And then one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
Source: The Great Gatsby

Variant: Hajime," she began, "the sad truth is that some things can't go backwards. Once they start going forward, no matter what you do, they can't go back to the way they were. If one little thing goes awry, then that's how it will stay forever.
Source: South of the Border, West of the Sun

This Business of Living (1935-1950)

Source: Across the River and into the Trees (1950), Ch. 1 (the opening paragraph of the novel)

Whether 't was rightfully said, Live Concealed
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

The West Indies, Part iii.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).