Fun Thread - Best Sailing Quotes

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by Sailor_Grant

I want to hear some of the best quotes about sailors and seamanship.

I'll start this off.

"The floor of the ocean is paved with the bones of optimists."


I am trying to remember another one - if anyone knows it please correct this and finish it off ; "there are three types of sailors: novices, pessimists and dead"

Let's see what good quotes this community has!

are you thinking of this one

"THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF PEOPLE: THE LIVING, THE DEAD AND SEAMEN.”

(like yours equally well tho !)

cheers,

[Tayana42]

“Damn the citations! Full speed ahead.”

[chris mac]

One I read recently isn't specifically for sailing, but definately applies.
If you dreams dont scare you, dream bigger!

[StuM]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

There are many old sailors and there are many brave sailors. But there are few old brave sailors.


b.

Old" and "bold" has a better ring to it

[chrisr]

this one is a bit lengthy, but need the background

it's from a book written by john masfield "Bird of Dawning" (1933). will try not to spoil if for anyone who hasn't read it

basically the book concerns the tea clipper race from china to england in 1870 or thereabouts. "Bird of Dawning" is badly shorthanded, but may be winning the 'race', with all the glory and money this brings.

the ship is nearly home...charging up channel in a gale - absolutely hammering - far too much sail...poor visibility...no accurate position for days...lee shore & victory somewhere ahead.

the mate comes to the skipper and asks if he can shorten sail. the skipper turns to the mate and exclaims "Take something IN ?...i was just thinking to set the royals !"

the mate looked aloft, and looked at the skipper, and said no more..."

sends shivers down your spine...

cheers,

[JPA Cate]

I set the sails, God takes 'em down!

I've seen this quoted, no idea whatsoever how many merchant captains may have said it, maybe even my great great grandpa.

A.

[IslandInfedel]

[Saltyhog]

Whatever’s gonna happen, is gonna happen out there, right Kitty? -Captain Ron

[Markhunter1097]

Marriages performed by the capitalism of this vessel are good for the duration of this voyage only

[chriskilmer]

Originally Posted by chrisr

there are so many, but some of my favourites are by sir francis chichester ;

"Any damn fool can navigate the world sober. It takes a really good sailor to do it drunk. ..."
"To the question, "When were your spirits at the lowest ebb?" the obvious answer seemed to be, "When the gin gave out."

cheers

Surprised no mention yet:
“I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted.”
Elmore Leonard, LaBrava

[Davy J]

Sorry, this one's a bit lengthy, but worth the read.

Sterling Hayden:

To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen, who play with their boats at sea — "cruising," it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

Book I : Man at Bay, Ch. 5
"I’ve always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can’t afford it."

What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine — and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need — really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in — and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all — in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.
Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?

What follows is not a blueprint for the man entombed; not many people find themselves in a situation paying a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year (as if any man is worth that much). But the struggle is relative: it's a lot hard to walk away from an income like that than from a fraction thereof.


Sterling Hayden (March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, writer and seaman. During World War II he served allied forces as OSS agent John Hamilton in Italy, with duties that included sailing with supplies to Yugoslav partisans and parachuting into fascist Croatia.

[Telesail]

There are two types of sailor: those who have run aground and those who have not run aground yet!

[Lodesman]

“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

[chrisr]

don't necessarily agree with this one, but it's fun to quote ;

"There are only two colors to paint a boat, black and white, and only a fool would paint a boat black"
Nathanael G. Herreshoff

cheers,

[Captndave1]

Saw on a friends boat "ALL MARRIAGES PERFORMED ABOARD THIS VESSEL ARE GOOD FOR THE DURATION OF THE VOYAGE ONLY".