The legislator is like the navigator of a ship on the high seas. He can steer the vessel on which he sails, but he cannot alter its construction, raise the wind, or stop the waves from swelling beneath his feet.

I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.

But look, our seas are what we make of them, full of fish or not, opaque or transparent, red or black, high or smooth, narrow or bankless—and we are ourselves sea, sand, coral, seaweed, beaches, tides, swimmers, children, waves.

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.

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

You never enjoy the world aright, till the sea itself floweth in your veins, till you are clothed with the heavens, and crowned with the stars.

The life of a sailor is very unhealthy.

We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!

The sole business of a seaman onshore who has to go to sea again is to take as much pleasure as he can.

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

The sea yields action to the body, meditation to the mind, the world to the world, all parts thereof to each part, by this art of arts—navigation.

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.

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.