The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.

Ocean. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man—who has no gills.

Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.

A fair complexion is unbecoming to a sailor: he ought to be swarthy from the waters of the sea and the rays of the sun.

The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea.

Of all objects that I have ever seen, there is none which affects my imagination so much as the sea or ocean. A troubled ocean, to a man who sails upon it, is, I think, the biggest object that he can see in motion, and consequently gives his imagination one of the highest kinds of pleasure that can arise from greatness.

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

Many, many steeples would have to be stacked one on top of another to reach from the bottom to the surface of the sea. It is down there that the sea folk live.

Ashore it’s wine, women, and song; aboard it’s rum, bum, and concertina.

In all the ancient states and empires, those who had the shipping, had the wealth.

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.

Why is a ship under sail more poetical than a hog in a high wind? The hog is all nature, the ship is all art.

The sea hath no king but God alone.