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.

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

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

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

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

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.

I’ve been bathing in the poem

Of star-infused and milky sea

Devouring the azure greens.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.