I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky; and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.
All I ask is a tall ship and a star to sail her by.
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.
There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.
At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.
And the winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.
A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.
Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.
I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.
To young men contemplating a voyage I would say go.
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.
There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.
Land was created to provide a place for boats to visit.
Any damn fool can navigate the world sober. It takes a really good sailor to do it drunk.
I wanted freedom, open air and adventure. I found it on the sea.
The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.
It isn't that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better.
Wind is to us what money is to life on shore.
or simply:
