The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
—Edward Gibbon, 1788Quotes
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.
—Hélène Cixous, 1976We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!
—Humphrey Gilbert, 1583The 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.
—Jane Austen, 1804In all the ancient states and empires, those who had the shipping, had the wealth.
—William Petty, 1690A fair complexion is unbecoming to a sailor: he ought to be swarthy from the waters of the sea and the rays of the sun.
—Ovid, c. 1 BCThe sole business of a seaman onshore who has to go to sea again is to take as much pleasure as he can.
—Leigh Hunt, 1820The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea.
—James Joyce, 1922The sea hath no king but God alone.
—Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1881He who commands the sea has command of everything.
—Francis Bacon, c. 1600We 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.
—John F. Kennedy, 1962Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.
—Zora Neale Hurston, 1937It 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. 625