There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.
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.
Land was created to provide a place for boats to visit.
At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.
To young men contemplating a voyage I would say go.
And the winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.
The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.
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.
It isn't that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better.
Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.
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.
Wind is to us what money is to life on shore.
There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.
If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable.
Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.
The days pass happily with me wherever my ship sails.
Men in a ship are always looking up, and men ashore are usually looking down.
or simply: