Herman Melville Quotes

I love boats. I can be on a boat for days.

He enters the port with a full sail.

It was the schooner Hesperus, That sailed the wintry sea.

I wanted to sail when I was in grammar school and well remember memorizing the names of the sails from the Merriam-Webster's ponderous dictionary in the library. Now I am actually at sea - as a passenger, of course, but at sea nevertheless - and bound for Ecuador.

When you are at sea, keep clear of the land.

Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.

With my husband, I have twice sailed across the Atlantic in a sailboat one third the length of the Mayflower. I know Atlantic gales inside and out. I endured one that lasted for three days with winds up to fifty knots.

Four hoarse blasts of a ship's whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping.

I love cities that are on the water. I love the water element, specifically the sea. I grew up on the sea and I grew up sailing - I love sailing - and the presence of the sea gives the air and the light a very special quality that I absolutely adore.

I love sailing but hate cruise ships.

My father was a sailor and our summer vacations were always on a sailboat. I had a little boat before I had a moped.

I would not creep along the coast but steer Out in mid-sea, by guidance of the stars.

The fair breeze blew, The white foam flew, And the forrow followed free. We were the first to ever burst into the silent sea.

I've always wanted to sail around the world in a handmade boat. And I built a boat. I had a boat built for me, I mean, and my second day out to sea I realized that (a) I'm not a sailor, and (b) I have no knowledge of basic navigation.

But oars alone can ne'er prevail To reach the distant coast; The breath of Heaven must swell the sail, Or all the toil is lost.

Sailors on a becalmed sea, we sense the stirring of a breeze.

[Out To Sea] was like a dream come true for me, because I got to work with Jack [Lemmon] and Walter [Matthau], who were unbelievable.

At last the anchor was up, the sails were set, and off we glided. It was a sharp, cold Christmas; and as the short northern day merged into night, we found ourselves almost broad upon the wintry ocean, whose freezing spray cased us in ice, as in polished armor.

The days pass happily with me wherever my ship sails.

Then sail, my fine lady, on the billowing wave - The water below is as dark as the grave, And maybe you'll sink in your little blue boat - It's hope, and hope only, that keeps us afloat

The humblest craft that floats makes its appeal to a seaman by the faithfulness of her life.