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

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 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.

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.

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.

The sea hath no king but God alone.

The wonderful sea charmed me from the first.

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

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

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

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

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.

The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.