The wonderful sea charmed me from the first.
—Joshua Slocum, 1900Quotes
The sea hath no king but God alone.
—Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1881The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea.
—James Joyce, 1922The life of a sailor is very unhealthy.
—Francis Galton, 1883The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.
—Vladimir Nabokov, 1941Many, 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.
—Hans Christian Andersen, 1837I 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.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1827In all the ancient states and empires, those who had the shipping, had the wealth.
—William Petty, 1690Be 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.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1838It 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 Qur’an, c. 625All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full.
—Book of Ecclesiastes, c. 250 BCWhat will not attract a man’s stare at sea?—a gull, a turtle, a flying fish!
—Richard Burton, 1883And to our age’s drowsy blood / Still shouts the inspiring sea.
—James Russell Lowell, 1848