If you are after some of the best sailing quotes and sayings, you’re in the right place! β΅οΈ
Below, you will find a wide range of quotes about sailing that are great for those who love this rewarding and exciting activity.
Side note: If I have missed any must-have quotes or saying, or if you have created your own, please share it down below as I will include it in future updates! π
73+ Sailing Quotes For Ocean Lovers!
1. “He enters the port with full sail.” – Virgil
2. “The sea drives truth into a man like salt.β – Hilaire Belloc
3. “Keep your hand on the helm.β – Matthew Goldman
4. “You haven’t lived until you’ve sailed.” – David Sedaris
5. “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.β – African Proverb
6. “A sailorβs joys are as simple as a childβs.β – Bernard Mointessier
7. “Your constitution is all sail and no anchor.” – Thomas Babington Macaulay
8. “At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.β – Robin Lee Graham
9. “I can’t control the wind but I can adjust the sail.β – Ricky Skaggs
10. “The cure for anything is saltwater β sweat, tears, or the sea.β – Isak Dinesen
11. “He that will not sail till all dangers are over must never put to sea.β – Thomas Fuller
12. “A true sailor is one who finds love in every port.β – Tapan Ghosh
13. “Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.β – August Hare
14. “Less judgment than wit is more sail than ballast.” – William Penn
15. “Land was created to provide a place for boats to visit.β – Brooks Atkinson
16. “I wanted freedom, open-air, adventure. I found it in the sea.” – Alain Gerbault
17. “Since I was 10 years old, I knew I wanted to sail around the world.” – Laura Dekker
18. “The man who has experienced shipwreck shudders even at a calm sea.β – Ovid
19. “Simply sailing in a new direction you could enlarge the world.β – Allen Curnow
20. “There is but a plank between a sailor and eternity.β – Thomas Gibbons
21. “The wonder is always new that any sane man can be a sailor.β – Ralph Waldo Emerson
22. “We were wavering around like a ship without a sail.” – Judy Holliday
23. “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.β – Jacques Yves Cousteau
24. “There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.” – Joseph Conrad
25. “Iβm not afraid of storms, for Iβm learning how to sail my ship.β – Louisa May Alcott
26. “It is a ship with a great deal of sail but a very shallow keel.” – Robert Bork
27. “Thing about boats is, you can always sell them if you don’t like them. Can’t sell kids.β – Lin Pardey
28. “I’m kind of a jock. I sail, I ride a bike, I hike, I pump iron. I just love to be active.” – Laura Schlessinger
29. “The sooner we learn to be jointly responsible, the easier the sailing will be.β – Ella Maillart
30. “And soon, too soon, we part with pain, To sail o’er silent seas again.” – Thomas Moore
31. “Seas were meant to be sailed by those with salt in their veins, and love in their heart.β – Anthony T. Hincks
32. “It is not that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better.β – Sir Francis Drake
33. “Sometimes you need to tether your boats to stop them from following your dreams.β – Anthony T. Hincks
34. “When I’m out sailing, I don’t wonder what heaven is like because I know.β – Anthony T.Hincks
35. “The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigator.β – Edmund Gibbon
36. “Every summer I sail to a small island called Cavallo, which lies between Sardinia and Corsica.” – Gino D’Acampo
37. “Sometimes, life lets you float amongst the clouds rather than sail upon the waters.β – Anthony T. Hincks
38. “We sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end.” – Blaise Pascal
39. “Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.β- Fitzhugh Dodson
40. “I was never part of the sailing circle, but I enjoy it when I’m invited to sail.” – Philippe Petit
41. “I had acquired the skills to sail a ship; I didn’t acquire the knowledge.” – Tom Holland
42. “A ship on the port always waits for you to sail to the oceans.” – Mehmet Murat
43. “A small boat that sails the river is better than a large ship that sinks in the sea.β – Matshona Dhliwayo
44. “I scold the worries away. As Ma likes to say, you cannot control the wind, but you can control your sails.β – Stacey Lee
45. “Turn over the rudder in God’s name, and sail with the wind heaven sends us.β – Catherine of Siena
46. “You don’t throw a compass overboard because the ocean is calm.β – Matshona Dhliwayo
47. “Never a ship sails out of the bay but carries my heart as a stowaway.β – Roselle Mercier Montgomery
48. “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.β – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
49. “We sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end.” – Blaise Pascual
50. “When I’m all grown up, come what may, I’ll build a boat to carry me awayβ – Guy Gavriel Kay
51. “Flying might not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price.β – Amelia Earhart
52. “I’ve always wanted to sail around the world in a handmade boat, and I built a boat.” – Will Ferrell
53. “If you are a boat that wants to sail in windy weather, you must be more stubborn than the waves.β – Mehmet Murat
54. “What if others suffer shipwreck, yet none that sail with Jesus have ever been stranded yet.” – Charles Spurgeon
55. “You donβt command wind in the direction it blows, but you command a ship in the direction it sails.” –Β
56. “We are all born in a little port but not all of us sail the vast oceans. The majority remains in the port.” –
57. “A sailor is an artist whose medium is the wind. Live passionately, even if it kills you because something is going to kill you anyway.β – Webb Chiles
58. “What if others suffer shipwreck, yet none that sail with Jesus have ever been stranded yet.” – Charles Spurgeon
59. “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.β – William Arthur Ward
60. “No literature is richer than that of the sea. No story is more enthralling, no tradition is more secure.β – Felix Riesenberg
61. “I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way.” – John Paul Jones
62. “Be patient with your boaters and let them rant. Most of them will get over it come December.β – Matthew Goldman
63. “When you’re young you think that you’re going to sail into a lovely lake of quietude and peace. This is profoundly untrue.” – Doris Lessing
64. “We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.” – Aristotle Onassis
65. “No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.β – Helen Keller
66. “The only ship you can truly steer in this ocean is the one you’re sailing. Quit trying to alter the winds; harness them.” – Richelle E. Goodrich
67. “A sailor is not defined as much by how many seas he has sailed than by how many storms he has overcome.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
68. “One takes what the river offers, both good and bad. The joy of living by running water far outweighs the sorrow.β – Matthew Goldman
69. “Separately there was only wind, water, soil, and hull, but at my hand, the four had been given purpose and direction.” – Lowell Thomas
70. “The sea speaks a language polite people never repeat. It is a colossal scavenger slang and has no respect.β – Carl Sandburg
71. “If you feel that you are rotting in a port, nothing can make you happy other than leaving that port and sailing to new ports.” – Mehmet Murat Ildan
72. “There is no more thrilling sensation I know of than sailing. It comes as near to flying as man has got to yet – except in dreams.β – Jerome K. Jerome
73. “My father was a welder on the second-highest sail, so the Opera House has a special place in my heart.” – Gladys Barejiklian
74. “We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came.” – John F. Kennedy
Conclusion Of The Best Sail Quotes & Sayings
That’s all folks! That wraps up my comprehensive list of sailing quotes for those that love the ocean and adrenaline. If you are new to sailing and want to learn more, this beginner guide on how to get started with sailing is a great place to start!