“Oh, things are frequently what they seem,
And this is wisdom's crown:
Only the game fish swims upstream,
But the sensible fish swims down.”

“Remember, a dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.”

“Gene Ray: Another thing, did you know your father is a fish?
Interviewer: No, I did not know my… [laughter]
Gene Ray: You know how salmon swim upstream, the male fertilizes the female eggs laid in the water?
Interviewer: Yes.
Gene Ray: The sperm fish swims upstream just like the salmon fertilizes female eggs laid in the water.”

“Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream.”

“There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "Morning, boys. How's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes "What the hell is water?”

“Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom.”

“A Nootka wizard will make an image of a swimming fish and put it into the water in the direction from which the fish generally appear.”

“A fish swims through the sea
While the sea is in a certain sense,
Contained within the fish!
Oh, what am I to think
Of what the writing of a thousand lifetimes
Could not explain
If all the forest trees were pens
And all the oceans - ink?”

“You don't accomplish much by swimming with the mainstream. Hell, a dead fish can do that.”

“It takes a strong fish to swim against the current. Even a dead one can float with it.”