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Spending time by the sea is one of our favourite things. Listening to the waves roll in and watching the many moods of the sea is always an amazing experience. Because of this we decided to find the best sea quotes. Once we started, we realized there is a quote on the sea for every occasion so we expanded the list to include ocean quotes, sea waves quotes, sea breeze quotes, blue sea quotes, and sea captions for Instagram.
We can pretty much guarantee that you will find the perfect quotes from the sea on this list. And reading them will hopefully make you want to spend more time by the water.
We quit our jobs over 10 years ago and have been travelling ever since. We have found that the sea can be such an amazing experience that it can be difficult to do it justice and capture that elusive feeling. These quotes are great for helping to express your sea experience.
We have also paired our favourite sea quotes with our favourite sea photos.
Here is our list of sea quotes and captions. Scroll through or jump ahead to the category that interests you the most.
Table of Contents
Our Favorite Sea Quotes
When it comes to quotes, the sea is a popular subject. We have lots of categories of sea quotes in this post but if you aren’t looking for something specific these are great overall quotes about the sea.
“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
“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
“Ideals are like the stars: we never reach them, but like the mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them.” – Carl Schurz
“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
“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 will grant each man new hope, and sleep will bring dreams of home…” – Christopher Columbus
“You never enjoy the world aright, till the Sea itself floweth in your veins.” – Thomas Traherne
“Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought of which the sea would not be part.” – Hermann Broch
“It’s the sound of the sea that makes you believe in mermaids.” – Anthony T. Hincks
If you like this quote head to our list of Mermaid Quotes.
“It is beautiful, it is endless, it is full and yet seems empty. It hurts us.” ― Jackson Pearce
“The sea always filled her with longing, though for what she was never sure.” – Cornelia Funke
“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
“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
“How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is clearly Ocean.” – Arthur C. Clarke
“Nothing soothes the soul like a day by the ocean!”
“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
“Eternity begins and ends with the ocean’s tides.”
“Every time I slip into the ocean, it’s like going home.” – Sylvia Earle
“Dear ocean, thank you for making us feel tiny, humble, inspired, and salty …all at once.”
“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
“The ocean is everything I want to be. Beautiful, mysterious, wild and free.”
“A pool just isn’t the same as the ocean. It has no energy. No life.” – Linda Gerber
“In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans.” – Kahlil Gibran
“The ocean makes me feel really small and it makes me put my whole life into perspective… it humbles you.” – Beyoncé Knowles
“I lost my heart to the sea.”
“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” – Jacques Yves Cousteau
“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
“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
“The ocean is both my mistress and my lover. How else can I explain her salty kiss that is still on my lips.” – Anthony T. Hincks
“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
“When she saw the waves crashing on the shore, her heart leaped inside her in excitement. She still had a love affair with the ocean.” – Sharon Brubake
“It isn’t that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better.” – Sir Francis Drake
“She loves the serene brutality of the ocean, loves the electric power she felt with each breath of wet, briny air.” – Holly Black
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” – Rumi
“How I long to be the shore and feel your waves crash upon me over and over again.” – Timothy Joshua Chia
“She would be half a planet away, floating in a turquoise sea, dancing by moonlight to flamenco guitar.” – Janet Fitch
“Mightier than the waves at sea is my love for you.”
“As the sea is never full of water so is my heart never full of love.”
“It’s when I go down to the beach that the waves come up to greet me.” – Anthony T. Hincks
“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
“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 sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach – waiting for a gift from the sea.” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh
“Even castles made from sand fall to the ocean.” – Jimi Hendrix
“A beach is not only a sweep of sand but shells of sea creatures, the sea glass, the seaweed, the incongruous objects washed up by the ocean.” – Henry Grunwald
“The waves came up towards us, fumbling and gnawing at the beach like an immense soft mouth.” – Ross Macdonald
Sea Waves Quotes
There is something so mesmerizing about watching and listening to the waves regardless of whether they are big rollers or tiny ripples. I can (and have) watched them for hours. These are my favourite sea waves quotes and sound of the sea quotes.
“The waves of the sea help me get back to me.” – Jill Davis
“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
“So that the monotonous fall of the waves on the beach, which for the most part beat a measured and soothing tattoo to her thoughts, seemed consolingly to repeat over and over again.” – Virginia Woolf
“Dance with the waves, move with the sea. Let the rhythm of the water set your soul free.” – Christy Ann Martine
“The sea possesses a power over one’s moods that has the effect of a will. The sea can hypnotize.” – Henrik Ibsen
“You’re not a wave, you’re a part of the ocean.” – Mitch Albom
“Let the waves carry you where the light cannot.” – Mohit Kaushik
“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
“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
“But where, after all, would be the poetry of the sea were there no wild waves?” – Joshua Slocum
“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
“Meet me where the sky touches the sea.” – Jennifer Donnelly
“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
“See the line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me. And no one knows, how far it goes.” – Moana, “How Far I’ll Go”
“The sea appears all golden. Beneath the sun-lit sky.” – Heinrich Heine
“Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly.” – Van Morrison
“So fine was the morning except for a streak of wind here and there that the sea and sky looked all one fabric as if sails were stuck high up in the sky, or the clouds had dropped down into the sea.” – Virginia Woolf
“Dream higher than the sky and deeper than the ocean.”
“Together we can face challenges as deep as the ocean and as high as the sky.” – Sonia Gandhi
“Life doesn’t get better than the sky above, sand below, and the sea in front.” – Laynni Locke
“Beneath the foggy sky the glowing sea is hazy, the soft light of a scarf over a lamp.” – Melissa Barbeau
“It is impossible, on a day like this, to tell sea from sky.” – Melissa Barbeau
“Meet me there, where the sea meets the sky…” – Oksana Rus
“Blue suggests the sea and sky, and they, after all, are in actual, visible nature what is most abstract.” – Yves Klein
“I love the sea’s sounds and the way it reflects the sky.” – John Dyer
“There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky.” – Victor Hugo
“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
Short Sea Quotes for Instagram
If you are looking for a caption for your latest sea pic these sea quotes for Instagram are perfect. Scroll through and find the one that best describes your day at the sea.
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The sea is a desert of waves, A wilderness of water.” – Langston Hughes
“The sound and smell of the sea cleanses my soul.”
“The sea does not like to be restrained.” – Rick Riordan
“Follow the river and you will find the sea.” – French Proverb
“Life is a sea of vibrant color. Jump in.” – A.D. Posey
“The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place.” – Rachel Carson
“The sea lives in every one of us.” – Robert Wyland
“I feel we are all islands – in a common sea.” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh
“No matter how rough the sea, I refuse to sink.”
“The sea is as near as we come to another world.” – Anne Stevenson
“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.” – Isak Dinesen
“The sea has boundless patience.” – Craig Robertson
“I’m pretty sure my birthstone is a sea shell.”
“Follow the river and you will find the sea.” – French Proverb
Sea Breeze Quotes
Is there anything more relaxing than feeling the sea breeze while looking out over the water? These sea breeze quotes do a good job of capturing that feeling.
“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
“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
“Summer is calling me with the music of an ocean breeze. I must go dance with the waves of love.” – Debasish Mridha
“A sea breeze puts the mind at ease.”
“I’m thankful for the sea breeze that feels so good right now.” – Johnny Cash
“The joyous time is when the breeze first strikes your sails, and the waters rustle under your bows.” – Charles Buxton
“The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.” – C. S. Lewis
“I was born in the breezes, and I had studied the sea as perhaps few men have studied it, neglecting all else.” – Joshua Slocum
“We got no troubles, life is the bubbles, under the sea.” – The Little Mermaid, “Under the Sea”
“Life is as inexorable as the sea.” – Thomas Wentworth Higginson
“In still moments by the sea life seems large-drawn and simple. It is there we can see into ourselves.” – Rolf Edberg
“Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought of which the sea would not be part.” – Hermann Broch
“Don’t sit and wait. Get out there, feel life. Touch the sun, and immerse in the sea.” – Rumi
“The sea is an underwater museum still awaiting its visitors.” – Phillip Diole
“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
“I wanted freedom, open air and adventure. I found it on the sea.” – Alain Gerbeault
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
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward
“The sea has neither meaning nor pity.” – Anton Chekhov
“My course is set for an uncharted sea.” – Dante
“The sea hates a coward.” – Eugene O’Neill
“I am a shipwrecked man who fears every sea.” – Ovid
“The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.” – Vladimir Nabokov
“The ceaseless twinkling of laughter of the waves of the sea.” – Aeschylus
“It is pleasant to watch the wild sea.” – Lucretius
“The secrets of the sea are forgotten at the seashore.” – Giorgos Seferis
“The best cure for sea sickness is to sit under a tree.” – Spike Milligan
“It’s always our self we find in the sea.” – E. E. Cummings
Blue Sea Quotes
The sea can have a multitude of blues. From the light turquoise of Zanzibar or the Greek Islands to the deep blue of the open water and everything in between. Here are some blue sea quotes talking about the sea colours.
“The sea! the sea! the open sea! The blue, the fresh, the ever free!” – Bryan W. Procter
“Never have I been the blue calm sea. I have always been the storm.” – Fleetwood Mac
“The sweet love between the moon and the deep blue sea.” – Jimi Hendrix
“My river runs to thee: Blue sea, wilt welcome me?” – Emily Dickinson
“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.”
“We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.” – Aristotle Onassis
“There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” – Willa Cather
“Rough seas make stronger sailors. Tough times build greater people.” – Robin Sharma
“We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton
“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
“Storms draw something out of us that calm seas don’t.” – Bill Hybels
“Great sea captains are made in rough waters and deep seas.” – Kathryn Kuhlman
“Family is a life jacket in the stormy sea of life.” – J.K. Rowling
“The man who has experienced shipwreck shudders even at a calm sea.” – Ovid
“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” – Publilius Syrus
“I go to the ocean to calm down, to reconnect with the creator, to just be happy.” – Nnedi Okorafor
“There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” – Willa Cather
“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
“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
“If the ocean can calm itself, so can you. We are both salt water mixed with air.” ― Nayyirah Waheed
“I like the peace and quiet of being at sea.” – Rafael Nadal
“And when the day arrives I’ll become the sky and I’ll become the sea and the sea will come to kiss me for I am going home. Nothing can stop me now.” – Trent Reznor
“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
“Ideals are like the stars: we never reach them, but like the mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them.” – Carl Schurz
A Smooth Sea Never Made a Skilled Sailor Quote
This is maybe the most famous quote about the sea and we thought it deserved its own section even thought it’s only one quote.
“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Sea Captions
A sampling from our list of the best 80 Sea Captions that includes romantic sea captions, captions on sea waves and sea beach captions.
- The sea is mesmerizing me
- Finding comfort in the rhythm of the sea
- Let’s go somewhere the sun kisses the sea
- Love you to the sea and back
- You and me, as far as the eye can sea
- You will find that endless sea, and that’s how my love will always be
- You can find me where the sand meets the water
- I’m happiest laying on the sand looking at the sea
- It’s time for the sun, sea and sand
And there you have it! Our list of the best quotes of the sea and a few captions thrown in just for fun. We hope you found one that spoke to you.
If you like deep sea fishing you should check out our list of the best fishing quotes.
We also have other lists of quotes and captions about nature including the sun, waterfalls, sunsets , forests, rivers, lakes, trees, mountains, sunshine and sunrise.
Let us know in the comments below if we missed any sea quotes that should be added.
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About the Author
Laynni Locke
Laynni has been sharing her travel adventures and day-to-day life on Routinely Nomadic social media for over 15 years and appreciates the importance of finding the perfect quote or caption to showcase those experiences. Putting her extensive writing and education background to good use, Laynni has become passionate about researching and curating comprehensive lists of all the best quotes and captions for every occasion.
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