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“The men on the Dauntless have disliked the Sea Girl's crew ever since our skipper took their captain to a cleaning on the wharfs of Zanzibar—them being narrow-minded that way. They claimed that the old man had a knuckle-duster on his right, which is ridiculous and a dirty lie. He had it on his left.”
Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Reeling up, blood streaming down his face from under his dented helmet, Conan glared dizzily at the profusion of destruction which spread before him. From crest to crest the dead lay strewn, a red carpet that choked the valley. It was like a red sea, with each wave a straggling line of corpses.”
Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sea-road is good for wanderers and landless men. There is quenching of thirst on the grey paths of the winds, and the flying clouds to still the sting of lost dreams.”
Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My feet are set on the outward trails And the call of the roistering sea. My wings are spread on the outbound gales And the paths that are long and free.”
Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) first seen 1926 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (June 23, 1926)
“I would like to say something about how I feel in general about what a novel, or any story, ought to be. It’s a quotation from Kafka. He said, “A book ought to be an ax to break up the frozen sea within us.”
Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ugly mansions of the rich who had fled stood empty on the bluff above the sea.”
Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am a glass man, but there is no light in me that can shine across the sea. I shall lead no one home, save no lives, not even my own.”
Jeanette Winterson (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The infinity of God is not mysterious, it is only unfathomable; not concealed, but incomprehensible; it is a clear infinity, the darkness of the pure unsearchable sea.”
John Ruskin (1819–1900) first seen 1846 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volume II, part III, section I, chapter V (1846)
“It is only the basest writer who cannot speak of the sea without talking of "raging waves," "remorseless floods," "ravenous billows," etc.; and it is one of the signs of the highest power in a writer to check all such habits of thought, and to keep his eyes fixed firmly on the pure fact, out of which if any feeling comes to him or his reader, he knows it must be a true one.”
John Ruskin (1819–1900) first seen 1856 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volume III, part IV, chapter XII (1856)
“Colored men of Tennessee, humble and unworthy as I am, if no better shall be found I will indeed be your Moses and lead you through the Red Sea of war and bondage to a fairer future of liberty and peace. I speak now as one who feels the world his country and all who love equal rights his friends.”
Andrew Johnson (1808–1875) first seen 1865 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The Good Fight" (1865), by George William Curtis.
“See one promontory (said Socrates of old), one mountain, one sea, one river, and see all.”
Robert Burton (1577–1640) said by 1640 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The bomb will not start a chain-reaction in the water converting it all to gas and letting all the ships on all the oceans drop down to the bottom. It will not blow out the bottom of the sea and let all the water run down the hole. It will not destroy gravity. I am not an atomic playboy, as one of my critics labeled me, exploding these bombs to satisfy my personal whim.”
William H. P. Blandy (1890–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Many a calm river begins as a turbulent waterfall, yet none hurtles and foams all the way to the sea.”
Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841) said by 1841 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We may find illustrations of the highest doctrines of science in games and gymnastics, in travelling by land and by water, in storms of the air and of the sea, and wherever there is matter in motion.”
James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) first seen 1871 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introductory Lecture on Experimental Physics held at Cambridge in October 1871, re-edited by W. D. Niven (2003) in Volume 2 of The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, Courier Dover Publications, p. 243.
“The 2nd law of thermodynamics has the same degree of truth as the statement that if you throw a tumblerful of water into the sea, you cannot get the same tumblerful of water out again.”
James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) said by 1879 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: in a letter to Lord Rayleigh, as quoted in John William Strutt, Third Baron Rayleigh (1924), p. 47.
“Next door, the TV's flashingblue frames on the wall.It's a comedy from the seventieswith a lead no one recalls.He vanished into oblivionit's easy to doand I cried a sea when you talked to methe day you said we were through.But it's all right, some enchanted nightI'll be with you”
Elliott Smith (1969–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wars, both civil and foreign, I undertook throughout the world, on sea and land, and when victorious I spared all citizens who sued for pardon. The foreign nations which could with safety be pardoned I preferred to save rather than to destroy.”
Augustus (63 BC–14) said by 14 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare. But if you seek safety, it is on the shore.”
Saadi (1210–1292) said by 1292 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Idries Shah, The Sufis (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964) p. 192
“The sea, unmated creature, tired and lone, Makes on its desolate sands eternal moan.”
Frederick William Faber (1814–1863) said by 1863 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Naples sitteth by the sea, keystone of an arch of azure, Crowned by consenting nations peerless queen of gayety: She laugheth at the wrath of Ocean, she mocketh the fury of Vesuvius, She spurneth disease, and misery, and famine, that crowd her sunny streets.”
Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–1889) said by 1889 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thou little bird, thou dweller by the sea, Why takest thou its melancholy voice, And with that boding cry Why o'er the waves dost fly? O, rather, bird, with me Through the fair land rejoice!”
Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1815–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We call out into the distance... Less than a pearl in a sea of stars, we are a lost island in the shadows.”
“From the City of Constellations to the wanderer and a Place of Rains he journeys on... ...the City of hesitation and doubt the Island of the house the colour of the sea the Plain of Mementoes he journeys on to find his love... ...the Valley of lost time the City of End and Endlessness the Isle of Revenents he journeys on...”
“Do you know how fat you are, do you? No, you don't, 'CAUSE YOUR FACE IS AN ISLAND TRAPPED IN A SEA OF FLAB! I would stab you to death... but I can't afford to take the two weeks off work!”
Dylan Moran (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I knew she wasn't English Because she spoke it far too well The grammar was goodly, the verbs as they should be And the slang was bang on the bell So as the language barrier clanged and banged I couldn't hear--hear or see England, London, and Bow Crumbled into the sea.”
Pete Doherty (born 1979) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Recited on Newsnight with Kirsty Wark, 22 December 2004
“Not an unconscious state Or mental chloroform without wilful return, Samadhi but extends my realm of consciousness Beyond the limits of my mortal frame To the boundaries of eternity, Where I, the Cosmic Sea, Watch the little ego floating in Me.”
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) said by 1952 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I, the ocean of mind, drink all creation’s waves. The four veils of solid, liquid, vapor, light, Lift aright. Myself, in everything, Enters the Great Myself. Gone forever, The fitful, flickering shadows of a mortal memory. Spotless is my mental sky, Below, ahead, and high above. Eternity and I, one united ray. I, a tiny bubble of laughter, Have become the Sea of Mirth Itself.”
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) said by 1952 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sharks are the criminals of the sea. Dolphins are the outlaws.”
Tom Robbins (1932–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s on all of us to stand up, to speak out when you see someone being abused. This is an organization that’s defined American — excuse me, defeated American enemies on land, sea, and air, and been defined by the way we treat others.”
“It is evident that the relation to God with which the Bible is concerned does not have its source in the purple depths of the subconscious, and cannot be identical with what the deep-sea psychical research of our day describes in the narrower or broader sense as libido fulfilment.”
Karl Barth (1886–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Guarded with ships, and all our sea our own.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sea has neither meaning nor pity.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gusev (1890)
“Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north. There will be no concession on an inch of the land.Tens of thousands celebrate Hamas 'victory' rally as exiled leader returns”
Khaled Mashal (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Passion is terrifying, it can rock you, change you, bring your head under, as when a wind rises from the bottom of the sea, and you're out there in the craft of your mortality, alone.”
James Baldwin (1924–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No friend to Love like a long voyage at sea.”
Aphra Behn (1640–1689) first seen 1677 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Rover, Part I, Act I, sc. ii (1677).
“Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! — An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime... Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.”
Wilfred Owen (1893–1918) said by 1918 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sir Walter Raleigh declared in the early 17th century that "whoever commands the sea, commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself." This principle is as true today as when uttered, and its effect will continue as long as ships traverse the seas.”
Chester W. Nimitz (1885–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our present control of the sea is so absolute that it is sometimes taken for granted.”
Chester W. Nimitz (1885–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There’s a cool web of language winds us in, Retreat from too much joy or too much fear: We grow sea-green at last and coldly die In brininess and volubility.”
Robert Graves (1895–1985) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Cool Web," lines 9–12, from Poems 1914-1926 (1927)
“Founded on rock and facing the night-fouled sea A beacon blinks at its own brilliance, Over and over with cutlass gaze Solving the Gordian waters ...”
Richard Wilbur (1921–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Over this country, when the giant Eagle flings the shadow of his wing, the land is darkened. So compact is it that the wing covers all its extent in one pause of the flight. The sea breaks on the pale line of the shore; to the Eagle's proud glance waves run in to the foot of the hills that are like rocks planted in green water.”
Hugh Walpole (1884–1941) first seen 1930 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rogue Herries (1930) First lines
“Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! Jehovah has triumphed—his people are free.”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Like Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye, But turn to ashes on the lips.”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Farewell, farewell to thee, Araby's daughter! Thus warbled a Peri beneath the dark sea.”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Alas! how light a cause may move Dissension between hearts that love! Hearts that the world in vain had tried, And sorrow but more closely tied; That stood the storm when waves were rough, Yet in a sunny hour fall off, Like ships that have gone down at sea When heaven was all tranquillity.”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'T is believ'd that this harp which I wake now for thee Was a siren of old who sung under the sea.”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When twilight dews are falling soft Upon the rosy sea, love, I watch the star whose beam so oft Has lighted me to thee, love.”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Who has not felt how sadly sweet The dream of home, the dream of home, Steals o'er the heart, too soon to fleet, When far o'er sea or land we roam?”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They grew in beauty side by side, They filled one home with glee: Their graves are severed far and wide By mount and stream and sea.”
Felicia Hemans (1793–1835) said by 1835 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Felicia D. Hemans
“There is a silence where hath been no sound, There is a silence where no sound may be,— In the cold grave, under the deep, deep sea, Or in the wide desert where no life is found.”
Thomas Hood (1799–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sonnet, Silence; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).