Quote about sailing

[shelly67tn]

Hi....I am looking for help with a quote....

I am putting together a group of photographs of my brother on Clemson sailing boats. He graduated Clemson, loved sailing, passed away about 6 months ago at the age of 24. I am putting this together for my Dad. I would like a fitting quote to be the center of the photographs. Something that would touch my Dad's heart.

Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thank you.
Shelly

[sailingdog]

Hi Shelley-

Sorry to hear about your brother. Does the quote have to be sailing related? One poem that came up recently is:

I Must Go Down to the Sea

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

- John Masefield

I hope that fits.

[bubb2]

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it - but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.
- Oliver Wendel Holmes

[camaraderie]

Here's a few I like. Sorry for your loss.

“We set the sail; God makes the wind”



One ship drives east and other drives west by the same winds that blow. It's the set of the sails and not the gales that determines the way they go.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sail.

[Moonfish]

The pessimist curses the wind.
The optimist hopes it will change.
The realist adjusts his sails...

[duckduckgoose]

The gentleness of heaven is on the sea

The bows turn,—the freighted ship, tacking, speeds away under her gray sails,
The beautiful and noble ship, with all her precious wealth, speeds away gaily and safe.


A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts

Be your sail always full of the breath of the Lord
To take you to places both here and abroad,
With your hand at the helm and sea mist on your lips
And a chorus of Angels as mates of your ship.

Sailing
Takes me away
To where I've always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free

[SEMIJim]

Here's a similar thread from last year: Defination I found for sailing

Further down, starting at post #7, there is more of that in which you may be interested.

Sorry to hear of your loss.

Jim

[Delirious]

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

- -Mark Twain.


Requiem

Under the wide and starry sky.
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.

- - R.L Stevenson

[jaschrumpf]

I always liked Christopher Buckley's simple line about, I think, his dad, William F. Buckley, Jr:

Great men always have too much sail up.

[nolatom]

Did your dad sail on the Clemson college team? If so, what year? I remember them coming up to New England in the early '70s and doing pretty well, for a school many of us New Englanders (I was one then, though since living in the south for many decades) had never heard of.

For a quote, all I can contribute is the traditional sailor's wish to another, whether for an upcoming voyage, or for that final voyage:

"Fair winds, and following seas"..