The vast oceans and seas cover 71% of our planet and are a crucial part of our existence. Their enigmatic depths have long been a source of fascination, awe, and fear for mankind. Therefore, it’s no surprise that there are so many sea quotes and sayings to be found.
Personally, I’ve always been a bit obsessed with the sea! As a kid, I desperately wanted to be a mermaid… and I’m not sure that has really changed.
There’s something so therapeutic and magical about the ocean, whether swimming or diving in it, sailing on it, or resting on the beach next to it.
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.
Unsurprisingly, many of these quotes about the sea reflect the similarities between the ebb and flow of our vast oceans and life. Whether you’re looking for inspirational or motivational sea quotes, short captions for Instagram, or funny quotes about the ocean… I’ve got them all here!
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🌊 Popular Quotes About the Sea
Being in or near the salt water brings me so much joy, and collecting these quotes about the sea was like a vicarious dive into the ocean!
These are some of my favorite and most popular sea quotes from various famous poets, authors, swimmers, and more!
- “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
- “The sea is a desert of waves, A wilderness of water.” –Langston Hughes
- “See the line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me. And no one knows, how far it goes.” – Disney’s Moana
🏝 More Sea Quotes
The ocean is a popular subject for many authors. While these quotes might be a bit less famous, they’re still perfect for an Instagram caption or providing inspiration.
- “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.” – Karen Blixen
- “The sound and smell of the sea cleanses my soul.”
- “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
- “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
- “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
- “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 spot on!
- “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
- “Limitless and immortal, the waters are the beginning and end of all things on earth.” – Heinrich Zimmer
- “I must be a mermaid. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.” – Anais Nin
- “The ocean makes me feel really small and it makes me put my whole life into perspective.” – Beyoncé Knowles
- “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
- “Every time I slip into the ocean, it’s like going home.”– Sylvia Earle
- “The ocean is a mighty harmonist.” – William Wordsworth
- “In the beginning, there was only ocean.” – Disney’s Moana
💧 Short Sea Quotes
Because sometimes less is more…
- “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.”
- “The ocean is everything I want to be. Beautiful, mysterious, wild and free.”
- “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
- “Life is a sea of vibrant color. Jump in.” –A.D. Posey
😂 Funny Sea Quotes and Puns
Life is often too serious. These funny sea quotes and puns encompass the fun nature of the ocean.
I don’t know about you, but I love a good pun! So without further ado, let’s “dive” right in…
- “All I need is a good dose of vitamin sea.”
- “Seas the day.”
- “Long time, no sea.”
- “Sea la vie!”
- “If there’s a will there’s a wave.”
- “Sea you soon!”
- “I’m a true oceanholic.”
- “Go with the flow.”
- “I need to be seahabilitated.”
- “Happier than a seagull with a French fry.”
- “I was mermaid for this sea-sun.“
- “Iwhalealways love you.”
💬 FIND THE PERFECT CAPTION FOR YOUR PHOTO:
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📸 Sea Captions for Instagram
Looking for the perfect sea Instagram caption to accompany your beautiful ocean photo?
I know that for me, finding the right Instagram caption is usually the hardest part of posting! But fear not, we’ve got you covered with these great ocean captions.
- “Wild and free, just like the sea.”
- “Life is simple: just add water.”
- “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.”
- “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.”
- “I am happy anywhere I can see the ocean.”
- “The ocean is my happy place.”
☀️ By the Sea Quotes
Being by the sea is one of my favourite places to be… as well as being in the sea of course.
These by the sea quotes help to capture all the feelings associated with the seaside. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for here, then check out our 200+ Best Quotes About the Beach for more inspiration!
- “If you’re lucky enough to live by the sea, you’re lucky enough.”
- “The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place.” –Rachel Carson
- “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
- “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!”
- “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 Sea
Maybe you’re looking for some inspiration from the sea or just need an inspirational sea caption to accompany your Instagram photo – either way these should do the job!
- “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.”
- “Ideals are likethestars: we never reach them, butlikethe mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them.” – Carl Schurz
- “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
- “Let the waves carry you where the light cannot.” – Mohit Kaushik
- “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
- “I feel we are all islands – in a common sea.” –Anne Morrow Lindbergh
- “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
- “By the ocean there are endless horizons and untold stories.”
💦 More Inspirational Ocean Quotes
Not quite found the right inspirational quote about the sea? Well, don’t worry, here’s some more…
- “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
- “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
- “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.”
- “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 rough seas quotes focus on the oceans powerful side, and the life lessons to be taken from it.
- “Rough seas make stronger sailors. Tough times build greater people.” – Robin Sharma
- “But where, after all, would be the poetry of the sea were there no wild waves?” – Joshua Slocum
- “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
- “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
- “Life’s roughest storms prove the strength of our anchors.”
🌅 Calm Seas Quotes
Personally, there’s nothing I find more calming and relaxing than being by the sea, listening to the waves rolling in and out.
- “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
- “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
🏄🏾♀️ Quotes About Sea and Life
The seas are often used as metaphors for life. We each have our own storm to ride out and challenges to overcome… Therefore, it’s no surprise that there are so many sea quotes about life.
- “Time and tide wait for no man.” –Saint Marher
- “If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it.” –Jonathan Winters
- “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
- “Thought is the wind, knowledge is the sail, and mankind is the vessel.” –August Hare
- “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
- “Our knowledge is a little island in a great ocean of nonknowledge.”– Isaac Bashevis Singer
- “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” –William Arthur Ward
- “Ocean: A body of water occupying two-thirds of a world made for man – who has no gills.” – Ambrose Bierce
💕 Love of the Sea Quotes
For many of us, it’s love at first sight when we see the sea. I know it captured my heart long ago.
Its incredible diversity never ceases to amaze me and I could spend hours lost in its technicolour world below the surface.
- “I lost my heart to the sea.”
- “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
- “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” – Jacques Yves Cousteau
- “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 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
- “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
🥰 Romantic Sea Quotes
A visit to the beach or a twilight sail makes for a perfect date, and there are plenty of romantic sea quotes to go along with it!
- “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
- “Individually we are one drop.Together we are an ocean.” –Ryunosuke Satoro
- “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
- “As the ocean is never full of water, so is the heart never full of love.”
- “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 150+ Best Sea Quotes
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I hope that these sea quotes provided some inspiration to fill your lungs with salty air, or perhaps helped to complete that perfect Instagram post! Don’t forget to tag us onInstagramif you use any of them – we love seeing your photos and sharing them!
Do you have a favourite sea quote or ocean musing on this list? Or are there any we’ve missed?! As always, leave us a comment and let us know what you think.
Don’t forget to check out ourother quotes blogs from more inspiration:
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Before you go, you may also like some of these posts for more travel inspiration and coastal destinations:
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