Sailing Sayings and Quotes

There's something about the open sea and adventure that draws people to sailing. Sure, it can be dangerous, but completing a difficult journey can also be very rewarding. Below you’ll find a collection of wise and insightful quotes about sailing.

Any fool can carry on, but a wise man knows how to shorten sail in time. Joseph Conrad
To young men contemplating a voyage, I would say go Joshua Slocum
The days pass happily with me wherever my ship sails. Joshua Slocum
There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Kenneth Grahame
Theory without practice cannot survive and dies as quickly as it lives. He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may be cast. Leonardo da Vinci
I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship. Louisa May Alcott
Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be Pirates. Mark Twain
Sailors, with their built-in sense of order, service and discipline, should really be running the world. Nicholas Monsarrat
The man who has experienced shipwreck shudders even at a calm sea. Ovid
To be successful at sea we must keep things simple. Pete Culler
Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think. Robert Henri
At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much. Robin Lee Graham
Mackerel skies and mares tails, soon will be time to shorten sails. Sailor's proverb
Any damn fool can navigate the world sober. It takes a really good sailor to do it drunk. Sir Francis Chichester
It isn't that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better. Sir Francis Drake
What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous. Thomas Merton
There’s no thrill in easy sailing when the skies are clear and blue, there’s no joy in merely doing things which any one can do. But there is some satisfaction that is mighty sweet to take, when you reach a destination that you never thought you’d make. unknown
The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. Vincent Van Gogh
A sailor is an artist whose medium is the wind. Webb Chiles
There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm. Willa Cather