125 Best Quotes About Sailing the Sea and Ocean: Inspirational, Funny, Exploration 

There’s something about quotes from different authors or experts on a subject that are a much better way to say or think something than I could eloquently lay down on paper.

Whenever I give a speech I try to insert some wisdom from someone smarter or better at oratory than I am. Sometimes it helps if its funny, other times you want it to be serious. It depends on the topic.

Some of these quotes are from sailors, authors, some are from books, and some are taken from movies. We hope you enjoy them all.

Quotes About Ships 

It is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing that assures the prosperous voyage. –George William Curtis

A ship in the harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for. –John A. Shedd

Ship is the nearest thing to dreams that hands have ever made, for somewhere deep in their oaken hearts the soul of a song is laid. –Robert N. Rose

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. –Antoine de Saint Exupery

I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way. –John Paul Jones

It’s not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that’s what a ship needs but what a ship is…what the Black Pearl really is…is freedom. –Captain Jack Sparrow

The days pass happily with me wherever my ship sails. – Joshua Slocum

You and your boat will never be 100% ready but at some point you just have to cast off the lines and head out! –svdelos.com

The cabin of a small yacht is truly a wonderful thing; not only will it shelter you from a tempest, but from the other troubles in life, it is a safe retreat. –Francis Herreshoff

Quotes About the Sea

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. –Jacques Yves Cousteau

I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth, a nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present. In this limitless nation, this nation of wind, light, and peace, there is no other ruler besides the sea. –Bernard Moitessier

The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea. –Isak Dinesen

My soul is full of longing for the secret of the sea, and the heart of the great ocean sends a thrilling pulse through me. –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The sea lives in every one of us. –Robert Wyland

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

To me, the sea is a continual miracle; The fishes that swim–the rocks–the motion of the waves–the ships, with men in them, What stranger miracles are there? –Walt Whitman

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came. –John F. Kennedy

But where, after all, would be the poetry of the sea were there no wild waves? –Joshua Slocum

He who lets the sea lull him into a sense of security is in very grave danger.” –Hammond Ines

We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds. –Aristotle Onassis

There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea. –Joseph Conrad

I wanted freedom, open air, and adventure. I found it on the sea. –Alaine Gerbault

The sea is a desert of waves, a wilderness of water. –Langston Hughes

A man is never lost at sea. –Ernest Hemingway

It is not that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better. –Sir Francis Drake

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it’s always our self we find in the sea. –E.E. Cummings

For I say there is no other thing that is worse than the sea is for breaking a man, even though he may be a very strong one. –Homer

It is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. –John F. Kennedy

Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly. –Van Morrison

With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you’re connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live. –Sylvie Earle

Quotes About the Ocean

The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul. –Robert Wyland

I believe in the ocean curing all bad moods. I believe in the waves wiping away worries. I believe in seashells bringing good luck. I believe in toes in the sand grounding my soul. –Author Unknown

On life‘s vast ocean diversely we sail. Reasons the card, but passion the gale. –Alexander Pope

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realize that you’ve been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent. –Dave Barry

I believe in the ocean curing all bad moods. I believe in the waves wiping away worries. I believe in seashells bringing good luck. I believe in toes in the sand grounding my soul. –Author Unknown

Take me to the ocean. Let me sail the open sea. To breathe the warm and salty air and dream of things to be. –Erica Billups

Sailing Quotes About Exploration and Adventure

If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough. –Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. –Christopher Columbus

The planning stage of a cruise is often just as enjoyable as the voyage itself, letting one’s imagination loose on all kinds of possibilities. Yet translating dreams into reality means a lot of practical questions have to be answered. –Jimmy Cornell

One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore. –Andre Gide

The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands. –Sir Richard Burton

He that will not sail till all dangers are over must never put to sea. –Dr. Thomas Fuller

I went to sea from the most tender age and have continued in a sea life to this day. Wherever anyone has sailed, there I have sailed. –Christopher Columbus

What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous. –Thomas Merton

I wanted freedom, open air and adventure. I found it on the sea. –Alaine Gerbault

Inspirational Sailing Quotes

Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than those you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the wind in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. –Mark Twain

If you live a life of make-believe, your life isn’t worth anything until you do something that does challenge your reality. And to me, sailing the open ocean is a real challenge, because it’s life or death. –Morgan Freeman

When I’m out sailing, I don’t wonder what heaven is like because I know. –Anthony T. Hincks

Flying might not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price. –Amelia Earhart

I keep sailing on in this middle passage. I am sailing into the wind and the dark. But I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full. –Arthur Ashe

Calm sailing doesn’t come from calm waters, it comes from having a good navigator; a good crew and a good vessel. –Anthony T. Hincks

 Tis the set of the sail that decides the goal, and not the storm of life. –Ella Wheeler Wilcox

It’s scary to have a 30 foot wave chasing you. If you are steering, you don’t look back. The crew looks back for you, and you watch their faces. When they look straight up, then get ready! –Magnus Olsson

The good seaman weathers the storm he cannot avoid and avoids the storm he cannot weather. –Anonymous

On a day when the wind is perfect, the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty. –Rumi

Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him. –Charles Davis

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving – we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor. –Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

There is nothing like lying flat on your back on the deck, alone except for the helmsman aft at the wheel, silence except for the lapping of the sea against the side of the ship. At that time you can be equal to Ulysses and brother to him. –Errol Flynn

Mackerel skies and mares tails, soon will be time to shorten sails. –Sailors proverb

Sailing a boat calls for quick action, a blending of feeling with the wind and water as well as with the very heart and soul of the boat itself. Sailing teaches alertness and courage, and gives in return a joyousness and peace that but few sports afford. –George Matthew Adams

Now…bring me that horizon.  –Captain Jack Sparrow

The goal is not to sail the boat, but rather to help the boat sail herself. –John Rousmaniere

For the most part, a sailboat navigates through its world of wind and water not leaving a single trace of its passage. Nothing is consumed. Nothing is altered. The winds and the water are left in exactly the same condition for the next user. Sailing is forever. –Michael B. McPhee

There is no unhappiness like the misery of sighting land again after a cheerful, careless voyage. –Mark Twain

A sailing ship is no democracy; you don’t caucus a crew as to where you’ll go anymore than you inquire when they’d like to shorten sail. –Sterling Hayden

A sailor is an artist whose medium is the wind. –Webb Chiles

When you sail for the first time, you have one of two experiences. It becomes a one-time, bucket-list thing you check off your list, or it becomes a part of your soul forever. –Michelle Segrest

The sail, the play of its pulse so like our own lives: so thin and yet so full of life, so noiseless when it labors hardest, so noisy and impatient when least effective. –Henry David Thoreau

Sailing Quotes About Life

The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. –Vincent Van Gogh

Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel. –Augustus Hare

A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder. –Thomas Carlyle

I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship. –Louisa May Alcott, American Poet

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. –Dolly Parton

No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit. –Hellen Keller

It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go. –Jim Rohn

Have an anchor so that life doesn’t toss you around. –Debby Ryan

Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate. –Captain Jack Sparrow

He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast. –Leonardo da Vinci

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable. –Seneca

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

On life’s vast ocean, diversely we sail. Reasons the card, but passion the gale. –Alexander Pope

One’s destination is never a place, but always a new way of seeing things. –Henry Miller

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Sailing is just the bottom line, like adding up the score in bridge. My real interest is in the tremendous game of life. –Dennis Conner

Any fool can carry on, but a wise man knows how to shorten sail in time. –Joseph Conrad

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm. –Willa Cather

Cruiser Sailing Quotes

If you don’t know, a cruiser is someone who lives on their boat either full time or part time who is cruising around. They may be on a multi-year circumnavigation or cruising a generalized area like the Great Loop, the Caribbean or the Med.

To be successful at sea, we must keep things simple. –Pete Culler

Go small, go simple, go now. –Larry Pardey

At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much. –Robin Lee Graham

The charm of singlehanded cruising is not solitude, but independence. –Claud Worth

The lovely thing about cruising is that planning usually turns out to be of little use. –Dom Degnon

Cruising is fixing your boat in exotic locations. -Author Unknown

Home is where the anchor drops. –Author Unknown

If you are going to do something, do it now. Tomorrow is too late. –Pete Goss

It’s remarkable how quickly a good and favorable wind can sweep away the maddening frustrations of shore living. –Ernest K. Gann

You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.

– Rabindranath Tagore

Funny Sailing Quotes

Let’s be honest, if you’re a sailor and don’t have a great sense of humor something is wrong with you. Sailing inevitably involves boat work, and if you’ve found yourself folded like a pretzel in a small compartment and drop a small boat part that falls into the bilge you really should start to laugh at some point, because if you don’t you’ll probably start to cry.

These are some of the funniest quotes about sailing and boats we love.

There are two types of sailors, those that have run aground, and those that lie about it. –Author Unknown

If anything’s going to happen, it’s going to happen out there. –Captain Ron

Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates. –Mark Twain

Why is the rum gone? –Captain Jack Sparrow

A diesel loves her oil same as a sailor loves rum. –Captain Ron

Work like a captain and play like a pirate. –Author Unknown

The sea finds out everything you did wrong. –Francis Stokes

Any damn fool can navigate the world sober. It takes a really good sailor to do it drunk.
Sir Francis Chichester

A sailor is an artist whose medium is the wind. Live passionately, even if it kills you because something is going to kill you anyway. –Webb Chiles

Only two sailors, in my experience, never ran aground. One never left port, and the other was an atrocious liar.
Don Bamford

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. –William Arthur Ward

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. –Kenneth Grahame

Sailors, with their built-in sense of order, service and discipline, should really be running the world. –Nicholas Monsarrat

Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Give him a fishing lesson and he’ll sit in a boat drinking beer every weekend. –Alex Blackwell

Sailing – The fine art of slowly going nowhere at great expense while being cold, wet and miserable. –Irv Heller

I shared this insight with some other boat owners, and they all agreed that, definitely, putting your boat into the water is asking for trouble. Most of them have had their boats sitting in their driveways long enough to be registered historical landmarks. –Dave Barry

I’m pretty sure my birthstone is a sea shell. –Unknown

There is nothing as relaxing as being out on the open sea, listening to the waves and the wind and the sails and voices downstairs yelling “HOW DO YOU FLUSH THESE TOILETS? –Dave Barry

It takes a minimum of six people, working in close harmony, to successfully flush a nautical toilet. That’s why those old ships carried such large crews. –Dave Barry

Life is like the ocean, it goes up and down. –Vanessa Paradis

You have to be careful on the deck, because of the “hatches,” which are holes placed around a sailboat at random to increase the insurance rates. –Dave Barry

Fortunately the boat we rented had a motor in it You will definitely want this feature on your sailboat too, because if you put up the sails, the boat tips way over, and you could spill your beer. –Dave Barry

The Ancient Mariner would not have taken so well if it had been called The Old Sailor. –Samuel Butler

He’s a boating enthusiast, although that phrase seems too weak to describe the level of his interest, kind of like describing someone as a heroin fancier. –Dave Barry

I swear like a sailor, assuming the sailor in question died in 1800 and was really square. –Alexandra Petri

Sailboats are the slowest form of transportation on Earth with the possible exception of airline flights that go through O’Hare. –Dave Barry

A bad day sailing is 100 times better than a good day at work. –Author Unknown

How to Sail a Sailboat by Dave Barry:

I had to choose between her and the boat, she said. Any sailor will know it is a lot more difficult to get a new boat than a new wife, so I bought her a one-way ticket back to Norway. –Peter Tangvald

A rough day at sea is still better than any day in the office. –Anonymous

If there are any other good sailing quotes you think should be on this list please email me at sywildrose@gmail.com so I can add them to the list.

Be Wild.