“As the tide washed in and out, I observed that this was simply Planet Earth’s way of breathing.”
An original ocean quote from Adam Marland of We Dream of Travel
Like most of you reading this, I have always been fascinated and entranced by the ocean. Evolutionists believe this is something primal and innate as, long ago, we all would have called it home.
Just being on the coast conjures up many different emotions. We know very little about our world’s seas, yet we feel inexplicably tied to them by nature.
In this guide, I have curated a collection of over 150 of the best quotes about the ocean, waves, and coast. These range from soulful reflections to funny puns and everything in between!
Contents
🌊 Original Ocean Quotes & Captions
Every Ocean Quotes guide on the internet is going to recycle the same famous quotes, but the ones in this section you will not find anywhere else!
Why? Because we made them up!
Below are original quotes from us, Adam & Sophie Marland, taken from our old journals or scribed during long walks in the sand.
- “Consider for a moment how amazing it is that something can be so violent yet calming as the ocean.” – We Dream of Travel
- “The surge engulfed me like a hug from Mother Earth.” – We Dream of Travel
- “Salty air always tastes like freedom.” – We Dream of Travel
- “The coast is the only place in the world that can be equally soothing in sunshine as it is in a storm.” – We Dream of Travel
- “As the tide washed in and out, I observed that this was simply Planet Earth’s way of breathing.” – We Dream of Travel
- “Even on a gloomy day, the ocean chases my woes away.” – We Dream of Travel
🧜♀️ Popular Quotes About the Ocean
Cliches become cliches for a reason! This section features some of the most famous and popular ocean quotes.
They come from a variety of famous poets, authors, swimmers, and more!
- “The sea is a desert of waves, A wilderness of water.”
–Langston Hughes - “The sea is an underwater museum still awaiting its visitors.”
– Phillip Diole - “To me, the sea is a continual miracle; The fishes that swim–the rocks–the motion of the waves–the ships, with men in them, What stranger miracles are there?”
– Walt Whitman - “Would you learn the secret of the sea? Only those who brave its dangers, comprehend its mystery!”
–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - “That the sea is one of the most beautiful and magnificent sights in Nature, all admit.”
– John Joly
- “The sea always filled her with longing, though for what she was never sure.” – Cornelia Funke
- “At night, when the sky is full of stars and the sea is still you get the wonderful sensation that you are floating in space.”– Natalie Wood
- “When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused.”– Rainer Maria Rilke
- “The sea! the sea! the open sea! The blue, the fresh, the ever free!” – Bryan W. Procter
- “See the line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me. And no one knows, how far it goes.” – Disney’s Moana
🏝 Less Famous Ocean Quotes
The ocean is a popular subject for many authors, but some are lesser known than others. Below we continue with some less famous quotes about the ocean!
- “The sound and smell of the sea cleanses my soul.” – Unknown
- “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.” – Karen Blixen
- “To me, the sea is like a person — like a child that I’ve known a long time. It sounds crazy, I know, but when I swim in the sea I talk to it. I never feel alone when I’m out there.” – Gertrude Ederle
- “With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you’re connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live.” – Sylvia Earle
- “My soul is full of longing for the secrets of the sea, and the heart of the great ocean sends a thrilling pulse through me.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- “The sea possesses a power over one’s moods that has the effect of a will. The sea can hypnotize. Nature in general can do so.” –Henrik Ibsen
- “I wanted freedom, open air and adventure. I found it on the sea.” – Alain Gerbeault
- “The sea does not like to be restrained.” – Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief
- “And the sea will grant each man new hope, as sleep brings dreams of home.” – Larry Ferguson
- “For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it’s always our self we find in the sea.” –E.E. Cummings
- “There’s nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realize that you’ve been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent.” –Dave Barry
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🐠 Ocean Quotes and Sayings
With 321,000,000 cubic miles, or around 352 quintillion gallons, of water in our oceans and seas, this first ocean quote seems pretty spot on!
- “The ocean makes me feel really small and it makes me put my whole life into perspective.” – Beyoncé Knowles
- “Limitless and immortal, the waters are the beginning and end of all things on earth.” – Heinrich Zimmer
- “How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is clearly Ocean.” – Arthur C. Clarke
- “Dear ocean, thank you for making us feel tiny, humble, inspired, and salty …all at once.”
- “A pool just isn’t the same as the ocean.It has no energy.No life.” – Linda Gerber
- “Take me to the ocean. Let me sail the open sea. To breathe the warm and salty air and dream of things to be.” – Erica Billups
- “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
- “Every time I slip into the ocean, it’s like going home.”– Sylvia Earle
- “I must be a mermaid. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.” – Anais Nin
- “The ocean has always been a salve to my soul…the best thing for a cut or abrasion was to go swimming in salt water. Later down the road of life, I made the discovery that salt water was also good for the mental abrasions one inevitably acquires on land.” –Jimmy Buffet
- “The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.” –Henry Beston
- “The ocean is a mighty harmonist.” – William Wordsworth
- “In the beginning, there was only ocean.” – Disney’s Moana
🦀 Short Sea Quotes & Captions
When it comes to Instagram captions, sometimes less is more. These are the short and sweet ocean quotes perfect for social media or any quick hitter.
- “The ocean is everything I want to be. Beautiful, mysterious, wild, and free.”
- “The waves of the sea help me get back to me.”– Jill Davis
- “Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans.” -Kahlil Gibran
- “Eternity begins and ends with the ocean’s tides.”
- “Life is a sea of vibrant color. Jump in.” –A.D. Posey
- “Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly.” – Van Morrison
- “Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone.”
- “The ocean’s roar is music to the soul.”
- “A sailor is an artist whose medium is the wind.” –Webb Chiles
- “Follow the river and you will find the sea.” – French Proverb
🤿 Funny Ocean Quotes and Puns
Life is often too serious. These funny ocean quotes and puns encompass the fun nature of the ocean.
So, without further ado, let’s “dive” right in… “sea” what I did there?
- “Seas the day.”
- “All I need is a good dose of vitamin sea.”
- “Long time, no sea.”
- “Sea la vie!”
- “If there’s a will there’s a wave.”
- “Sea you soon!”
- “I was mermaid for this sea-sun.“
- “I’m a true oceanholic.”
- “Go with the flow.”
- “I need to be seahabilitated.”
- “Happier than a seagull with a French fry.”
- “Iwhalealways love you.”
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🐬 Sea Captions for Instagram
Looking for the perfect ocean caption for your Instagram post? I know for me, finding the right IG caption is usually the hardest part of posting!
Fear not, we’ve got you covered with these great ocean captions for your coastal content.
- “Life is simple: just add water.”
- “Wild and free, just like the sea.”
- “We dream in colors borrowed from the sea.”
- “Let the sea set you free.”
- “Me and the ocean: Love at first sight.”
- “High tides. Good vibes.”
- “You, me and the sea.”
- “I am happy anywhere I can see the ocean.”
- “We got no troubles, life is the bubbles, under the sea.” – The Little Mermaid, “Under the Sea”
- “Thalassophile (n)A lover of the sea, someone who loves the sea/ocean.”
- “Advice from the Ocean: Be shore of yourself. Come out of your shell. Take time to coast. Avoid pier pressure. Sea life’s beauty. Don’t get so tide down on work that you miss out on life’s beautiful waves.”
- “Friends, sun, sand and sea. That sounds like a summer to me.“
- “The ocean is my happy place.”
🐳 By the Ocean Quotes
Since we can’t all live ‘under the sea’ like Sebastian, being near the ocean is the next best option. These quotes all capture the feeling of being by the sea.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, then check out our 200+ Best Quotes About the Beach for more inspiration!
- “In still moments by the sea life seems large-drawn and simple. It is there we can see into ourselves.” –Rolf Edberg
- “If you’re lucky enough to live by the sea, you’re lucky enough.”
- “Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought of which the sea would not be part.” – Hermann Broch
- “Because there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away.”– Sarah Kay
- “Nothing soothes the soul like a day by the ocean!”
- “The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place.” –Rachel Carson
- “There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more.” –Lord Byron
- “If everyone could just live near the ocean, I think we’d all be happier. It’s hard to be down about anything knee-deep in the sand.”– Crystal Woods
- “The calming movement of the sea along with the restless ocean breeze gently caresses me creating a soothing trance which lulls me to a place of peace.”– M.L.Borges, By The Sea
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⛵️ Inspirational Quotes About the Ocean
Whether you’re looking for some inspiration from the ocean or just need an inspirational caption to accompany your Instagram photo, these should do the job!
- “Let the waves carry you where the light cannot.” – Mohit Kaushik
- “Ideals are likethestars: we never reach them, butlikethe mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them.” – Carl Schurz
- “We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.” –William James
- “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”
- “A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor.”
- “We must free ourselves of the hope that the seawill ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.” – Aristotle Onassis
- “The sea does not reward thosewho are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. … Patience, patience, patience, is whatthe seateaches. Patience and faith. Oneshouldlie empty, open, choiceless as a beach – waiting for a gift fromthe sea.” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh
- “I feel we are all islands – in a common sea.” –Anne Morrow Lindbergh
- “There must be something strangely sacred in salt. It is in our tears and in the sea.” –Khalil Gibran
- “They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.” –Francis Bacon
- “The sea lives in every one of us.” – Robert Wyland
- “The sea, the great unifier, is man’s only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat.” –Jacques Yves Cousteau
- “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full.” –King Solomon
🐋 More Inspired Ocean Quotes
- “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” – Mother Teresa
- “Life is like the ocean, it goes up and down.”– Vanessa Paradis
- “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – H.Jackson Brown, Jr.
- “Itmakes you feel small,but notin abad way. Small because you realize you’re partofsomething bigger.” – Lauren Myracle
- “Things aren’t always as they appear on the surface.”
- “Let the blue of the sky and ocean take your blue away when you feel blue.” –Munia Khan
- “Water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing, in the end, can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone.” – Margaret Atwood
- “Dream higher than the sky and deeper than the ocean.”
- “You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
- “In the waves of change, we find our direction.”
🌊 Rough Seas Quotes
While you may be picturing tranquil seas lapping against a tropical beach, the ocean can be tumultuous and threatening, too.
These quotes about rough waters focus on the ocean’s power, and the life lessons to be taken from it.
- “But where, after all, would be the poetry of the sea were there no wild waves?” – Joshua Slocum
- “Blue, green, grey, white, or black; smooth, ruffled, or mountainous; that ocean is not silent.” – H. P. Lovecraft
- “Rough seas make stronger sailors. Tough times build greater people.” – Robin Sharma
- “Great sea captains are made in rough waters and deep seas.” – Kathryn Kuhlman
- “We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton
- “The human heart is like a ship on a stormy sea driven about by winds blowing from all four corners of heaven.” – Martin Luther King
- “Life’s roughest storms prove the strength of our anchors.”
- “Storms draw something out of us that calm seas don’t.” – Bill Hybels
- “I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning to sail my ship.” –Louisa May Alcott
- “No matter how rough the sea, I refuse to sink.”
- “What world lies beyond that stormy sea I do not know, but every ocean has a distant shore, and I shall reach it.” – Cesare Pavese
- “Family is a life jacket in the stormy sea of life.” – J.K. Rowling
🌅 Calm Ocean Quotes
- “Blue is known as a ‘sad’ colour. But when I see the ocean, all my sorrow is washed away.”
- “Life is like the ocean. It can be calm or still, and rough or rigid, but in the end, it is always beautiful.”
- “The man who has experienced shipwreck shudders even at a calm sea.” – Ovid
- “There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” – Willa Cather
- “Great people are not affected by each puff of wind that blows ill. Like great ships, they sail serenely on, in a calm sea or a great tempest.” – George Washington
- “Anyonecan hold the helm when the sea is calm.” – Publilius Syrus
- “If the ocean can calm itself, so can you. We are both saltwater mixed with air.” – Nayyirah Waheed
- “As the sea is beautiful not only in calm but also in storm, so is happiness found not only in peace but also in strife.”–Ivan Panin
- “In a calm sea, every man is a pilot.” – John Ray
- “At night, time becomes a calm sea. It goes on forever.” – Francoise Sagan
🏄 Quotes About the Ocean and Life
The ocean is often compared metaphorically to so much of our life and world.
We each have our own storm to weather, our own tides to turn, our own challenges to overcome…
It’s no surprise that there are so many quotes about the ocean and life. Find the best ones in this section.
- “If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it.” –Jonathan Winters
- “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” –William Arthur Ward
- “Time and tide wait for no man.” –Saint Marher
- “Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me.” –Albert Schweitzer
- “Life is as inexorable as the sea.” –Thomas Wentworth Higginson
- “Maybe life was like a sea, and all the people were like boats … Everybody who was born was cast into the sea. Winds would blow them in all directions. Tides would rise and turn, in their own rhythm. And the boats – they just went along as best they could, trying to find a harbor.” –Cynthia Voigt
- “Our knowledge is a little island in a great ocean of nonknowledge.”– Isaac Bashevis Singer
- “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”– Jon Kabat-Zan
- “At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.”– Robin Lee Graham
- “To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor.” –Oliver Wendell Holmes
- “You never really know what’s coming.A small wave, or maybe a big one. All you can really do is hope that when it comes, you can surf over it, instead of drown in its monstrosity.”–Alysha Speer
- “Thought is the wind, knowledge is the sail, and mankind is the vessel.” –August Hare
🐚 Love of the Ocean Quotes
When you see the sea, it’s love at first sight.
Personally, the incredible diversity of this underwater world never ceases to amaze me and I could spend hours lost in the thriving and colorful world just below the surface.
- “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” – Jacques Yves Cousteau
- “Why is it that scuba divers and surfers are some of the strongest advocates of ocean conservation? Because they’ve spent time in and around the ocean, and they’ve personally seen the beauty, the fragility, and even the degradation of our planet’s blue heart.” – Sylvia Earle
- “I lost my heart to the sea.”
- “Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.”– Robert Henri
- “It isn’t that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better.” –SirFrancis Drake
- “Dance with the waves, move with the sea.Let the rhythm of the water set your soul free.”– Christy Ann Martine
- “The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides and in its depths, it has its pearls too.” –Vincent van Gogh
- “The sea is as near as we come to another world.” – Anne Stevenson
- “The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.” – Kate Chopin
- “She loves the serene brutality of the ocean, loves the electric power she felt with each breath of wet, briny air.”–Holly Black
- “Ships are safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for. So set sail on the stormy sea of love. You’re going to get soaked at times, but at least you’ll know you’re alive.” – Dan Millman
🧜♂️ Romantic Ocean Quotes
The ocean waves are the world’s greatest love song. Hey, did we just make up another ocean quote?
A visit to the beach or a twilight sail makes for a perfect date, and there’s plenty of romantic ocean quotes to go along with it!
- “Individually we are one drop.Together we are an ocean.” –Ryunosuke Satoro
- “You are the only fish in the sea for me.”
- “Meet me where the sky touches the sea.” – Jennifer Donnelly
- “The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul.”– Robert Wyland
- “Ocean separates lands, not souls.” –Munia Khan
- “Together we can face challenges as deep as the ocean and as high as the sky.” – Sonia Gandhi
- “As the ocean is never full of water, so is the heart never full of love.”
- “Our love is as deep as the ocean.”
- “If you want to know how much I love you, count all the waves in the sea.”
- “You are not a drop in the ocean.You are the entire ocean in a drop.”–Rumi
- “I love you more than there are grains of sand on the beach, fish in the sea, and waves in the ocean.”
🤫 Final Thoughts on the 165 Best Ocean Quotes
I hope these ocean quotes brought inspiration and/or helped you write that perfect caption.
Now we’d like to hear from YOU!
Do you have a favorite ocean quote or musing that didn’t make the list? Did we nail it? Let us know in the comments below!
Before you go, don’t forget to check out ourother quotes blogs for more inspiration:
- 200+ Best On the Beach Quotes
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- Road Trip Quotes to Inspire Wanderlust
- 160+ Best Quotes About Waterfalls
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