Holzbrucke over the Rhine River between Bad Sackingen (Germany) and Stein, Aargau (Switzerland)

The river nobly foams and flows,

  The charm of this enchanted ground,

And all its thousand turns disclose

  Some fresher beauty varying round:

The haughtiest breast its wish might bound

  Through life to dwell delighted here;

Nor could on earth a spot be found

  To nature and to me so dear,

Could thy dear eyes in following mine

Still sweeten more these banks of Rhine!

Poem to the Rhine River

Lord Byron

Viaduct across the Kander River near Frutigen, canton of Bern (Switzerland)

I said, with men, and with the thoughts of men,
I held but slight communion; but instead
My joy was in the Wilderness, to breathe
The difficult air of the iced mountain’s top,
Where the birds dare not build, nor insect’s wing
Flit o’er the herbless granite; or to plunge
Into the torrent, and to roll along
On the swift whirl of the new breaking wave
Of river-stream, or ocean, in their flow.

Excerpt from Manfred, 

poem located in the Bernese Alps

Lord Byron

Viaduct in the Furka Oberalp Railway near Andermatt, canton of Uri (Switzerland) painted by Daniele Buzzi

The people of Uri puzzled over and over about the question how to cross the Schöllenen canyon. At last, the president of the local government exclaimed despairingly: "The devil itself shall build a bridge here!" Shortly after the president of the local government had spoken these words, the devil was standing in front of the locals. He suggested them to make a pact: He would build a bridge that was safe, but the first soul to cross the new bridge would belong to him. Soon after the folk agreed to this pact, a new bridge over the canyon was being erected. The people could not decide on a person to send across the bridge, though. Suddenly, a clever peasant had an ingenious idea. He unfastened his billy goat and hounded it to the other side of the bridge. Boiling with rage, the devil grabbed a boulder and threatened to destroy his construction. Thereupon, an old woman came his way and carved a cross in the rock. When the devil saw this, he missed his target and the boulder landed near Göschenen. There it has been lying for centuries now. Since this day, the bridge is called devil's bridge.

Legend of Uri Bridge, near Andermatt

Viaduct in the Gornergrat Bahn Railway near Zermatt, canton of Valais (Switzerland)

"What power must have been required to shatter and to sweep away the missing parts of this pyramid; for we do not see it surrounded by heaps of fragments; one only sees other peaks - themselves rooted to the ground - whose sides, equally rent, indicate an immense mass of débris, of which we do not see any trace in the neighbourhood. Doubtless this is that débris which, in the form of pebbles, boulders, and sand, fills our valleys and our plains."

Horace -Benedict de Saussure
  Geologist at the sight of the Matterhorn.

Panorama Bridge in Saas-Fee, canton of Valais (Switzerland)

"Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night."

Rainer María Rilke
About the Valais.

Bridge over a river in the Alps (Switzerland) in a drawing by Emile Cardinaux

The sun-beams streak the azure skies,

And line with light the mountain's brow:

With hounds and horns the hunters rise,

And chase the roebuck thro' the snow.

From rock to rock, with giant-bound,

High on their iron poles they pass;

Mute, lest the air, convuls'd by sound,

Rend from above a frozen mass.

From the poem The Alps at Day break

Samuel Rogers

Bridge over the Rhone River in Saint Maurice, Valais (Switzerland)

Thou Royal River, born of sun and shower

In chambers purple with the Alpine glow,

Wrapped in the spotless ermine of the snow

And rocked by tempests!--at the appointed hour 

Forth, like a steel-clad horseman from a tower, 

With clang and clink of harness dost thou go 

To meet thy vassal torrents, that below 

Rush to receive thee and obey thy power. 

And now thou movest in triumphal march, 

A king among the rivers! On thy way 

A hundred towns await and welcome thee; 

Bridges uplift for thee the stately arch, 

Vineyards encircle thee with garlands gay, 

And fleets attend thy progress to the sea 

To the River Rhone 

Henry Wasworth Longfellow

Bridge in a village of Val Bregaglia, Graubunden (Switzerland) painted by Giovanni Giacometti

"My life is my art and my art is my life. This little tract of land closed in the narrow circle of mountains, is my universe... Every day the mysterious spectacle of life and its infinite beauty of nature is renewed before my eyes."

Giovanni Giacometti

Kreisviadukt in Brusio, canton of Graubunden (Switzerland)

Yesterday brown was still thy head, as the locks of my loved one,
Whose sweet image so dear silently beckons afar.
Silver-gray is the early snow to-day on thy summit,
Through the tempestuous night streaming fast over thy brow.
Youth, alas, throughout life as closely to age is united

As, in some changeable dream, yesterday blends with to-day

The Swiss Alps

Goethe

Richlerenviadukt over the Reuss River in Hospental, Graubunden (Switzerland)

The Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes represents an exemplary railway development for the disenclavement of the Central Alps at the beginning of the 20th century. The railway’s socio-economic consequences were substantial and lasting for mountain life, the interchange of human and cultural values, and changes in the relationship between man and nature in the West.

The Rhaetian Railway

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Footbridge over the lake of Sankt Moritz, Graubunden (Switzerland)

In the Engadine I am in the place that is by far the most comfortable of the world.

Friedrich Nieztsche

Landwasser Viaduct in Filisur, Graubunden (Switzerland)

"I hate trains! Remind me never to get on the train again."

From the film Anastasia

after the scene where this bridges appears.

Pont de Bergues over the Rhone River in Geneva (Switzerland)

"By the waters of Leman, I sat down and swept"

T.S. Elliot

Bridge in the Place de la Navigation of Lausanne, Vaud (Switzerland)

Pont de la Coulouvreniere over the Rhone in Geneva (Switzerland)

"Of all the cities on this planet, of all the diverse and intimate places which a man seeks out and merits in the course of his voyages, Geneva strikes me as the most propitious for happiness"

Jorge Luis Borges

Grand Pont over the river Flon in Lausanne, Vaud (Switzerland)

Fondue enchaînée sur la baie de Lausanne

Pour un pélican combien de frangipane
Cher le guili guili
Coucous de contrebande
Ça sonne comme l'Helvète Underground
Robinson Crusoé n'a plus un vendredi d'libre
Au printemps j'redoute qu'un des trois suisses me livre
Cher le guili guili
Coucous de contrebande
Ça sonne comme l'Helvète Underground

Lyrics from Helvete Underground
Alain Bashung

Painting of the Grand Pont over the Flon River in Lausanne, Vaud (Switzerland)

Pont de Bergues over the Rhone River in Geneva (Switzerland)

“I contempleted the lake; the waters were placid, all around was calm and the snowy mountains... the calm and heavenly scene restored me and I continued my journey toward Geneva.” 

From Frankstein

Mary Shelley

Chapel Bridge across the Reuss River in Lucerne (Switzerland)

Chapel Bridge over the Reuss River in Lucerne (Switzerland)

Über See und schneeige Gipfel,
Villen, Gärten und heiligen Hain
schimmert in Gold getrieben ein Zipfel
südlichen Himmeldaches herein.

Beginning of the poem Luzern

Fridolin Hofer