The wonderful sea charmed me from the first.

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

I never even saw the use of the sea. Many a sad heart has it caused, and many a sick stomach has it occasioned! The boldest sailor climbs on board with a heavy soul and leaps on land with a light spirit.

Seamen are the nearest to death and the furthest from God.

Seaward ho! Hang the treasure! It’s the glory of the sea that has turned my head.

I am ill every time it blows hard, and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea.

I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm’s way.

Be not the slave of your own past. Plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so shall you come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.

Without a decisive naval force, we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious.

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

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.

Alone, alone, all, all alone, / Alone on a wide, wide sea!

The Mediterranean has the colors of a mackerel, changeable I mean. You don’t always know if it is green or violet—you can’t even say it’s blue, because the next moment the changing light has taken on a tinge of pink or gray.