Nautical Quotes - Page 4

• There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.

  Kenneth Grahame

  Witty, Wind, Sailing

  TheWind in theWillows ch. 1 (1908)

  77 Copy quote

  Show source

• It's out there at sea that you are really yourself.

  Vito Dumas

  Sea, Sailing, Ships

  John Guzzwell, Vito Dumas, Joshua Slocum (1976). “Great voyages in small boats: solo circumnavigations”, John De Graff

  53 Copy quote

  Show source

• For the truth is that I already know as much about my fate as I need to know. The day will come when I will die. So the only matter of consequence before me is what I will do with my allotted time. I can remain on shore, paralyzed with fear, or I can raise my sails and dip and soar in the breeze.

  Richard Bode

  Fate, Risk, Sailing

  13 Copy quote

• Spirits rise as the sails fill...
  Gone is the sea's glassy surface, and with it the terrible glare.
  Close the hatches and ports!
  We're sailing again!

  Jim Moore

  Sea, Sailing, Gone

  Jim Moore (1996). “By Way of the Wind”, p.105, Sheridan House, Inc.

  22 Copy quote

  Show source

• I can't wait for the oil wells to run dry, for the last gob of black, sticky muck to come oozing out of some remote well. Then the glory of sail will return.

  Tristan Jones

  Running, Oil, Waiting

  Tristan Jones (1998). “Ice!”, p.35, Sheridan House, Inc.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• There is but a plank between a sailor and eternity.

  Thomas Gibbons

  Sea, Sailing, Sailor

  46 Copy quote

• It's remarkable how quickly a good and favorable wind can sweep away the maddening frustrations of shore living.

  Ernest K. Gann

  Frustration, Wind, Sailing

  Ernest K. Gann (2000). “Song of the Sirens”, p.37, Sheridan House, Inc.

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• The humblest craft that floats makes its appeal to a seaman by the faithfulness of her life.

  Joseph Conrad

  Sailing, Crafts, Faithfulness

  Joseph Conrad (2015). “The Napoleonic Novels: The Rover & Suspense: From the Renowned Author of The Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes (Including Author’s Memoirs, Letters & Critical Essays)”, p.604, e-artnow

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  Brother, Lying, Sea

  48 Copy quote

• I want a boat that drinks 6, eats 4, and sleeps 2.

  Ernest K. Gann

  Sleep, Sailing, Want

  18 Copy quote

• A ship is always referred to as 'she' because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder.

  Chester W. Nimitz

  Peace, War, Sea

  1959 In the NewYork Times, 24May.

  81 Copy quote

  Show source

• The desire to build a house is the tired wish of a man content thenceforward with a single anchorage. The desire to build a boat is the desire of youth, unwilling yet to accept the idea of a final resting place.

  Arthur Ransome

  Tired, Men, Ideas

  Arthur Ransome, Brian Hammett (2002). “Racundra's third cruise”, Wiley

  34 Copy quote

  Show source

• A small craft in an ocean is, or should be, a benevolent dictatorship.

  Tristan Jones

  Ocean, Sailing, Crafts

  48 Copy quote

• If you can not arrive in daylight, then stand off well clear, and wait until dawn. After all, that's one of the things God made boats for- to wait in.

  Tristan Jones

  Waiting, Sailing, Dawn

  Tristan Jones (2014). “Outward Leg”, p.114, Open Road Media

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• For one thing, I was no longer alone; a man is never alone with the wind-and the boat made three.

  Hilaire Belloc

  Men, Wind, Sailing

  Hilaire Belloc (1996). “Hills and the Sea”, p.126, Northwestern University Press

  32 Copy quote

  Show source

• The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  66 Copy quote

• There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.

  Joseph Conrad

  Life, Ocean, Army

  Joseph Conrad (1905). “Lord Jim”, p.7, McClure, Phillips & Company

  67 Copy quote

  Show source

• No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.

  Samuel Johnson

  Funny, Army, Men

  Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 16 Mar. 1759)

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• Of all the things that man has made, no is so full of interest and charm,
  none possesses so distinct a life and character of its own, as a ship.

  Henry Van Dyke

  Character, Men, Sailing

  16 Copy quote

• No literature is richer than that of the sea. No story is more enthralling, no tradition is more secure.

  Felix Riesenberg

  Sea, Sailing, Stories

  Felix Riesenberg (1926). “Vignettes of the Sea”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• I can remain on shore, paralyzed with fear,
  or I can raise my sails and dip and soar in the breeze.

  Richard Bode

  Sailing, Dip, Breeze

  9 Copy quote

• Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.

  Samuel Johnson

  Travel, Jail, Sailing

  Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 16 Mar. 1759)

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  Inspirational, Funny, Sailing

  Sterling Hayden (2015). “Wanderer”, p.67, Pickle Partners Publishing

  64 Copy quote

  Show source

• I once knew a writer who, after saying beautiful things about the sea, passed through a Pacific hurricane, and he became a changed man.

  Joshua Slocum

  Beautiful, Men, Sea

  Joshua Slocum, Applewood Books (CRT) (2006). “Sailing Alone Around the World”, p.193, Applewood Books

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• And after two days in civilization we realized we could never stay for long and started to plan our next adventure.

  Bob Bitchin

  Adventure, Civilization, Two

  Bob Bitchin (2004). “Letters from the Lost Soul: A Five Year Voyage of Discovery and Adventure”, p.285, Rowman & Littlefield

  6 Copy quote

  Show source