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

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.

The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea.

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

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

The life of a sailor is very unhealthy.

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

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.

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.

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

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

The wonderful sea charmed me from the first.