I don't know who named them swells. There's nothing swell…

The goal is not to sail the boat, but rather to help the boat sail herself.

— John Rousmaniere

I must go down to the sea again For the call of the running tide It's a wild call and a clear call that…

— John Masefield

Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me…

— Herman Melville

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

— Edward Gibbon

Whenever your preparations for the sea are poor; the sea worms its way in and finds the problems.

— Francis Stokes

There is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. In or out of 'em, it…

— Kenneth Grahame

There is a tide in the affairs of men

— William Shakespeare

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like…

— John Masefield

The chance for mistakes is about equal to the number of crew squared.

— Ted Turner

The sea finds out everything you did wrong.

— Francis Stokes

There are only two colors to paint a boat, black or white, and only a fool would paint a boat black.

— Nathanael Greene Herreshoff

To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest.

— Anonymous

If a man is to be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most.

— E. B. White

To young men contemplating a voyage I would say go.

— Joshua Slocum

I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth, a nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats,…

— Bernard Moitessier