"What she really loved was to hang over the edge and watch the bow of the ship slice through the waves. She loved it especially when the waves were high and the ship rose and fell, or when it was snowing and the flakes stung her face."
— Kristin Cashore (Graceling)

"A war of ideas can no more be won without books than a naval war can be won without ships. Books, like ships, have the toughest armor, the longest cruising range, and mount the most powerful guns."
— Franklin D. Roosevelt

"hark, now hear the sailors cry,
smell the sea, and feel the sky
let your soul & spirit fly, into the mystic..."
— Van Morrison

"and I shall watch the ferry boats, and they'll get high, on a bluer ocean against tomorrow's sky. and i will never grow so old again, and i will walk and talk, in gardens all wet with rain..."
— Van Morrison

"To reach a port we must set sail –
Sail, not tie at anchor
Sail, not drift."
— Franklin D. Roosevelt

"We clear the harbor and the wind catches her sails and my beautiful ship leans over ever so gracefully, and her elegant bow cuts cleanly into the increasing chop of the waves. I take a deep breath and my chest expands and my heart starts thumping so strongly I fear the others might see it beat through the cloth of my jacket. I face the wind and my lips peel back from my teeth in a grin of pure joy."
— L.A. Meyer (Under the Jolly Roger: Being an Account of the Further Nautical Adventures of Jacky Faber)

"...this beginning motion, this first time when a sail truly filled and the boat took life and knifed across the lake under perfect control, this was so beautiful it stopped my breath..."
— Gary Paulsen (Caught by the Sea: My Life on Boats)

"Keep your hand on the helm."
— Matthew Goldman (The Journals of Constant Waterman: Paddling, Poling, and Sailing for the Love of It)

"Be patient with your boaters and let them rant. Most of them will get over it come December."
— Matthew Goldman (The Journals of Constant Waterman: Paddling, Poling, and Sailing for the Love of It)

"With this idea, being a man with long experience of the sea (and they certainly have a great advantage over other men in any sort of task)..."
— GarciLaso De la Vega (Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru)

"One takes what the river offers, both good and bad. The joy of living by running water far outweighs the sorrow."
— Matthew Goldman (The Journals of Constant Waterman: Paddling, Poling, and Sailing for the Love of It)

"What is time to a water rat? What is time to the river? Only we humans obsess over days and minutes, hours and seasons."
— Matthew Goldman (The Journals of Constant Waterman: Paddling, Poling, and Sailing for the Love of It)