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

He who travels by sea is nothing but a worm on a piece of wood, a trifle in the midst of a powerful creation. The waters play about with him at will, and no one but God can help him.

I 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.

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

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

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

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

The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.

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

The power which the sea requires in the sailor makes a man of him very fast, and the change of shores and population clears his head of much nonsense of his wigwam.

It 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.

He who commands the sea has command of everything.