32 Best Sailor Sayings and Sailing Quotes - Inspirational Quotes for Sailors (2024)

Are you a sailor and needs some more inspiration? Here’s my list of Quotes about the sea and sailing on a boat.

Two years ago, when Jonathan and I were still broke backpackers, he told me about how he dreams of sailing the open seas – that someday, he would buy himself a boat. Live in it. And travel around the world with it. And you guessed right; he sure did buy us a sailboat.

Here is the list of some popular sailor sayings and sailing quotes that will have you set before your sailing rendezvous:

actually, every sailor deserves a sailing challenge coin to record sailing life, the point is that you can use these popular sayings and aphorisms to customize an exclusive sailor challenge coin at GS-JJ.com, which is very important for every sailor because they all have unique meanings. You can create a nautical commemorative coin by clicking the navy challenge coins of GS-JJ.com, which is not only for the navy but also for seafarers.

32 Best Sailor Sayings and Sailing Quotes - Inspirational Quotes for Sailors (1)

Table of Contents

1. Sailors, with their built-in sense of order, service, and discipline, should really be running the world. – Nicholas Monsarrat

2. The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigator. – Edmund Gibbon

3. The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. – William Arthur Ward

32 Best Sailor Sayings and Sailing Quotes - Inspirational Quotes for Sailors (2)

32 Best Sailor Sayings and Sailing Quotes - Inspirational Quotes for Sailors (3)

4. Mackerel skies and mares tails, soon will be time to shorten sails. – sailors proverb

5. The cabin of a small yacht is truly a wonderful thing; not only will it shelter you from a tempest, but from the other troubles in life, it is a safe retreat. – L. Francis Herreshoff

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6. I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving – we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor. – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

7. A ship in the harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for. – William Shedd

8. You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. – Christopher Columbus

9. He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast. – Leonardo da Vinci

10. He is the best sailor who can steer within fewest points of the wind, and exact a motive power out of the greatest obstacles. – Walter Scott

11. I must go down to the sea 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

12. That’s what a ship is, you know – it’s not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that’s what a ship needs. But what a ship is, really is, is freedom. – Capt. Jack Sparrow

13. A tourist remains an outsider throughout his visit, but a sailor is part of the local scene from the moment he arrives. – Anne Davison

14. The perfection of a yacht’s beauty is that nothing should be there for only beauty’s sake.– John MacGregor

15. A sailing vessel is alive in a way that no ship with mechanical power ever be. – Aubrey de Selincourt

16. Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made, for somewhere deep in their oaken hearts the soul of a song is laid. – Robert N. Rose

17. He that will not sail till all dangers are over must never put to sea. – Thomas Fuller

18. Until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore, you will not know the terror of being forever lost at sea. – Charles Cook

19. We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds. – Aristotle Onassis, Shipping Magnate

20. The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigator. – Edmund Gibbon, Historian

21. I wanted freedom, open-air, and adventure. I found it on the sea. – Alaine Gerbault, Sailor

22. It is not the ship so much as the skilful sailing that assures the prosperous voyage. – George William Curtis

23. A ship on the port always waits for you to sail to the oceans!– Mehmet Murat ildan

24. 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, Making Wishes

25. That’s what sailing is, a dance, and your partner is the sea. And with the sea you never take liberties. You ask her, you don’t tell her. You have to remember always that she’s the leader, not you. You and your boat are dancing to her tune. – Michael Morpurgo, Alone on a Wide Wide Sea

26. The sea hates a coward. – Eugene O’Neill

27. I was born in the breezes, and I had studied the sea as perhaps few men have studied it, neglecting all else. – Joshua Slocum

28. If my ship sails from sight, it doesn’t mean my journey ends, it simply means the river bends. – Enoch Powell

29. I keep sailing on in this middle passage. I am sailing into the wind and the dark. But I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full. – Arthur Ashe

30. There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. – Kenneth Grahame

31. I was born in the breezes, and I had studied the sea as perhaps few men have studied it, neglecting all else. – Joshua Slocum

32. I keep sailing on in this middle passage. I am sailing into the wind and the dark. But I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full. – Arthur Ashe

32 Best Sailor Sayings and Sailing Quotes - Inspirational Quotes for Sailors (10)

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32 Best Sailor Sayings and Sailing Quotes - Inspirational Quotes for Sailors (2024)

FAQs

32 Best Sailor Sayings and Sailing Quotes - Inspirational Quotes for Sailors? ›

The sea is too great a force to argue with – it is just what it is at that moment, and a sailor will simply adapt to it the best they can. They cannot fight it and they cannot give up. They just keep going, and usually with a smile on their face.

What is a motivational quote for sailors? ›

The sea is too great a force to argue with – it is just what it is at that moment, and a sailor will simply adapt to it the best they can. They cannot fight it and they cannot give up. They just keep going, and usually with a smile on their face.

What is a good luck saying for sailors? ›

Fair Winds and Following Seas – a phrase derived from two original sources that has become a nautical blessing used to wish someone good luck on their journey.

What is a sailor's catchphrase? ›

The phrases and nautical terms that they used were short and sweet, some of the examples are: “Aye Aye Captain!” – a sign of approval. “Ahoy!” – sailors would use this exclamation among themselves to call out to each other. “Land Ho!” – an exclamation that a sailor would make when they spotted the land.

What is a philosophical quote for sailing? ›

The good seaman weathers the storm he cannot avoid and avoids the storm he cannot weather.” —Unknown. This is one of my all-time favorite quotes and is my mantra while at sea.

What is the strongest sailor quote? ›

The strongest storms make the best sailors. The strongest games make the best players. Tougher challenges make the best leaders.

What is the sailor's blessing? ›

May the seas lie smooth before you. May a gentle breeze forever fill your sails. May sunshine warm your face, And kindness warm your soul.

What is a good luck charm for sailing? ›

Good luck charms

For the ship to be lucky, many nail a horseshoe to the mast or the door of the captain's cabin.

What is a good omen for sailors? ›

Good luck
  • Cats.
  • Cormorants.
  • Whistling.
  • Klabautermann.
  • Patron saints.
  • Lucky actions.
  • Mermaids and mermen.

What makes a good sailor quote? ›

A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” – quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt as a reminder that life and relationships come with many ups and downs, but those bumps are what make us compassionate, resilient, and dynamic people and partners. No Complacency, All Persistence .... Its a Go!

What is an inspirational quote for seafarers? ›

"The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigator." "Until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore, you will not know the terror of being forever lost at sea."

What is a sailor's greeting? ›

'Ahoy' originated in the seafaring world, where it was used as an interjection to catch the attention of crew members and as a general greeting. It is often used today by participants in playful imitations of pirate speak.

What is the stoic quote sailing? ›

Daily Stoic on X: ""If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable." Seneca" / X.

What is a short inspirational quote about the sea? ›

There's nothing quite like our ocean when it comes to sources of inspiration
  • The cure for anything is saltwater: sweat, tears or the sea. ...
  • Sometimes in the waves of change we find our true direction. ...
  • The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul.
Jun 7, 2021

What is the sailing leadership quote? ›

The leader adjusts the sails.” “The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.”

What is the blessing for sailors? ›

May the seas lie smooth before you. May a gentle breeze forever fill your sails. May sunshine warm your face, And kindness warm your soul.

References

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