Lapham’s Quarterly

Seamen are the nearest to death and the furthest from God.

Seaward ho! Hang the treasure! It’s the glory of the sea that has turned my head.

Being thus arrived in good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stale earth, their proper element.

The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.

I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.

Many, many steeples would have to be stacked one on top of another to reach from the bottom to the surface of the sea. It is down there that the sea folk live.

He that commands the sea is at great liberty and may take as much and as little of the war as he will.

The sole business of a seaman onshore who has to go to sea again is to take as much pleasure as he can.

The power which the sea requires in the sailor makes a man of him very fast, and the change of shores and population clears his head of much nonsense of his wigwam.

He who commands the sea has command of everything.

In all the ancient states and empires, those who had the shipping, had the wealth.

We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!

A fair complexion is unbecoming to a sailor: he ought to be swarthy from the waters of the sea and the rays of the sun.

Ocean. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man—who has no gills.

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea—whether it is to sail or to watch it—we are going back whence we came.

The sea yields action to the body, meditation to the mind, the world to the world, all parts thereof to each part, by this art of arts—navigation.

Never trust her at any time when the calm sea shows her false alluring smile.

Why is a ship under sail more poetical than a hog in a high wind? The hog is all nature, the ship is all art.

Ashore it’s wine, women, and song; aboard it’s rum, bum, and concertina.

Of all objects that I have ever seen, there is none which affects my imagination so much as the sea or ocean. A troubled ocean, to a man who sails upon it, is, I think, the biggest object that he can see in motion, and consequently gives his imagination one of the highest kinds of pleasure that can arise from greatness.

Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.

The bathing was so delightful this morning, and Molly so pressing with me to enjoy myself, that I believe I stayed in rather too long, as since the middle of the day I have felt unreasonably tired. I shall be more careful another time, and shall not bathe tomorrow as I had before intended.

And to our age’s drowsy blood / Still shouts the inspiring sea.

You never enjoy the world aright, till the sea itself floweth in your veins, till you are clothed with the heavens, and crowned with the stars.

Without a decisive naval force, we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious.

Take back your golden fiddles, and we’ll beat to open sea.

It is He who has subdued the ocean so that you may eat of its fresh fish and bring up from its depth ornaments to wear. Behold the ships plowing their course through it. All this, that you may seek His bounty and render thanks.

The life of a sailor is very unhealthy.

Seafarers go to sleep in the evening not knowing whether they will find themselves at the bottom of the sea the next morning.

As to the sea itself, love it you cannot. Why should you? I will never believe again the sea was ever loved by anyone whose life was married to it. It is the creation of omnipotence, which is not of humankind and understandable, and so the springs of its behavior are hidden.

Alone, alone, all, all alone, / Alone on a wide, wide sea!

The wonderful sea charmed me from the first.

The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea.

The legislator is like the navigator of a ship on the high seas. He can steer the vessel on which he sails, but he cannot alter its construction, raise the wind, or stop the waves from swelling beneath his feet.

Tomorrow we take to the mighty sea.

What will not attract a man’s stare at sea?—a gull, a turtle, a flying fish!

The sea hath fish for every man.

The sea receives us in a proper way only when we are without clothes.

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.

The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.

I am ill every time it blows hard, and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea.

He who travels by sea is nothing but a worm on a piece of wood, a trifle in the midst of a powerful creation. The waters play about with him at will, and no one but God can help him.

All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full.

The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most.

I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm’s way.

Be not the slave of your own past. Plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so shall you come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.

But look, our seas are what we make of them, full of fish or not, opaque or transparent, red or black, high or smooth, narrow or bankless—and we are ourselves sea, sand, coral, seaweed, beaches, tides, swimmers, children, waves.

I never even saw the use of the sea. Many a sad heart has it caused, and many a sick stomach has it occasioned! The boldest sailor climbs on board with a heavy soul and leaps on land with a light spirit.

The sea hath no king but God alone.

The Mediterranean has the colors of a mackerel, changeable I mean. You don’t always know if it is green or violet—you can’t even say it’s blue, because the next moment the changing light has taken on a tinge of pink or gray.

I’ve been bathing in the poem / Of star-infused and milky sea / Devouring the azure greens.