The Quotes canon

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Ocean and sea35 quotes
All collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago. — Herman Melville · 1851Lighter than a cork I danced on the waves. — Arthur Rimbaud · 1871The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. — Kate Chopin · 1899I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by. — John Masefield · 1902All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full. — Ecclesiastes 1:7 · 931 BCThe sea! the sea! — Xenophon · 370 BCAll 35 quotes →
Sailing5 quotes
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by. — John Masefield · 1902The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1798A wet sheet and a flowing sea, A wind that follows fast And fills the white and rustling sail And bends the gallant mast. — Allan Cunningham · 1850Tomorrow we shall sail again on the vast ocean. — Horace · 23 BCWhenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. — Herman Melville · 1851
Salt water2 quotes
Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1798Who hath desired the Sea? The sight of salt water unbounded? — Rudyard Kipling · 1901
Water2 quotes
Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1798Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother of Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life. — Herman Melville · 1851
Never trust her at any time when the calm sea shows her false alluring smile. — Lucretius · 55 BC
For all at last returns to the sea...the beginning and the end. — Rachel Carson · 1951
Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. — Herman Melville · 1851
Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I've come to learn, is women. — Charles R. Johnson · 1990
Depression1 quote
Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. — Herman Melville · 1851
Discovery1 quote
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1798
I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness. — George Fox · 1647
Homecoming1 quote
The sea! the sea! — Xenophon · 370 BC
Irony1 quote
Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1798
Isolation1 quote
Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! — Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1798
Loneliness1 quote
Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! — Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1798
He who commands the sea has command of everything. — Themistocles · 462 BC
Nae man can tether time or tide. — Robert Burns · 1791
Safety1 quote
Lovely it is, when the winds are churning up the waves on the great sea, to gaze out from the land on the great efforts of someone else; not because it's an enjoyable pleasure that somebody is in difficulties, but because it's lovely to realize what troubles you are yourself spared. — Lucretius · 55 BC
Solitude1 quote
Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! — Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1798
The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. — Kate Chopin · 1899
The beach1 quote
The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place. All through the long history of Earth it has been an area of unrest where waves have broken heavily against the land, where the tides have pressed forward over the continents, receded, and then returned. For no two successive days is the shore line precisely the same. — Rachel Carson · 1955
The earth1 quote
How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is clearly Ocean. — Arthur C. Clarke · 1990
Nae man can tether time or tide. — Robert Burns · 1791
Thirst1 quote
Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1798
Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! — Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1798