140 Ocean Quotes | Beautiful & Inspirational Sayings (2022)

A world of wonder and mystery, let these incredible ocean quotes open your mind and your heart to the great unknown.

Oceans are the lifeblood of our planet and all the creatures that live here. They cover nearly three-quarters of the earth and hold 97% of our planet’s water.

Oceans affect our lives and those of our loved ones, no matter how far from the shore we live. We depend on the oceans for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and even the products that keep us warm, safe, informed and entertained.

Besides, research has shown that being near the ocean can make you calmer and more creative.

When you sit near the ocean and gaze out at the water, you give your brain and senses a rest from overstimulation, get into a mindful state, and trigger insights and ideas that eluded you while you were sitting at your computer.

Ocean water can also inspire you to be more compassionate and connected. While in the restful, contemplative state associated with interacting with water, you are likely to experience feelings of awe, which can increase your capacity for connection and empathy.

Besides, a workout by or in ocean water can be more beneficial to your body and mind than exercising in a crowded, hectic gym environment.

To open your mind and heart to the great unknown, below is our collection of inspirational, beautiful, and insightful ocean quotes, ocean sayings, and ocean proverbs, collected from a variety of sources over the years.

We also have a collection of magical forest quotes about the beauty of nature. Don’t forget to read that as well.

Ocean Quotes To Inspire Beauty And Depth

1. “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

2. “The universe is an ocean upon which we are the waves. While some decide to surf, others venture to dive.” – Charbel Tadros

3. “The ocean was magical to her, its depths and mysteries were boundless, its call irresistible.” – Jeff Mariotte

4. “You will love the ocean. It makes you feel small, but not in a bad way. Small because you realize you’re part of something bigger.” – Lauren Myracle

5. “If  the ocean can calm itself, so can you. We are both salt water mixed with air.” ― Nayyirah Waheed

6. “Summer is calling me with the music of an ocean breeze. I must go dance with the waves of love.” – Debasish Mridha

7. “You could start now, and spend another forty years learning about the sea without running out of new things to know.” – Peter Benchley

8. “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” – Mahatma Gandhi

9. “You can either see yourself as a wave in the ocean or you can see yourself as the ocean.” – Oprah Winfrey

10. “The ocean has a life of its own. Its tides, whirlpools, currents and eddies are a testament to its conflicting emotions.” – Anthony T. Hincks

Also read these mindfulness lake quotes that will bring your life peace.

Ocean quotes to remind you of its vastness and beauty

11. “She loves the serene brutality of the ocean, loves the electric power she felt with each breath of wet, briny air.” – Holly Black

12. “My soul is full of longing for the secret of the sea. And the heart of the great ocean sends a thrilling pulse through me.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

13. “Be alone with the sea for it is there you will find answers to questions you didn’t realize exist.” – Khang Kijarro Nguyen

14. “I love the ocean. I’ve always liked the blue, so tranquil and peaceful and gliding. And the fear of it.” – Siouxsie Sioux

15. “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

16. “You can’t cross the ocean of life just by dreaming about it, you have to jump in and swim.” – Debasish Mridha

17. “The ocean is a mighty harmonist.” – William Wordsworth

18. “I pray to be like the ocean, with soft currents, maybe waves at times. More and more, I want the consistency rather than the highs and the lows.” – Drew Barrymore

19. “Let the waves carry you where the light can not.” – Mohit Kaushik

20. “We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.” – Mother Teresa

Don’t forget to also read these sea quotes to invoke depth and exploration.

Ocean quotes that will open your mind and heart

21. “Every time I slip into the ocean, it’s like going home.” – Sylvia Earle

22. “I have an immoderate passion for water; for the sea, though so vast, so restless, so beyond one’s comprehension.” – Guy de Maupassant

23. “The ocean is a central image. It is the symbolism of a great journey.” – Enya

24. “Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought of which the sea would not be part.” – Hermann Broch

25. “Being out there in the ocean, God’s creation, it’s like a gift He has given us to enjoy.” – Bethany Hamilton

27. “The sea knows no limits, makes no concessions. It has given us everything and it can take everything away from us.” – John Ajvide Lindqvist

28. “If peace flows like a river, may it flow into the ocean of our souls.” – J. Autherine

29. “Waves tossed themselves against the shore, dragging grit and sand between their nails as they were slowly pulled back out to sea.” – Holly Black

30. “The ocean is everything I want to be. Beautiful, mysterious, wild, and free.” — Unknown

You might also like these surfing quotes or these waves quotes for surfers & beach lovers.

Ocean quotes that will make you calmer and more creative

31. “We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.” – William James

32. “‎I have always been fascinated by the ocean, to dip a limb beneath its surface and know that I’m touching eternity, that it goes on forever until it begins here again.” – Lauren DeStefano

33. “Wild waves rise and fall when they arrive and that’s what makes the calm sea alive.” – Munia Khan

34. “I wish I could describe the feeling of being at sea, the anguish, frustration, and fear, the beauty that accompanies threatening spectacles, the spiritual communion with creatures in whose domain I sail.” – Steve Callahan

35. “A pool just isn’t the same as the ocean. It has no energy. No life.” – Linda Gerber

36. “Just think of any negativity that comes at you as a raindrop falling into the ocean of your bliss.” – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

37. “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward

38. “What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams.” – Werner Herzog

39. “Dance with the waves, move with the sea, let the rhythm of the water set your soul free.” — Christy Ann Martine

40. “The ocean is an object of no small terror.” – Edmund Burke

Also check out these California quotes that will make you want to pack a bag for the coast.

Beautiful ocean quotes to inspire you

41. “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 drowning in its monstrosity.”- Alysha Speer

42. “How I long to be the shore and feel your waves crash upon me over and over again.” – Timothy Joshua Chia

43. “If you want to hear the distant voice of the ocean put your ear to the lips of a seashell.” – Curtis Tyrone Jones

44. “Each kiss of an ocean wave is passed along, as long as there is life on and in the seas.” – Anthony T. Hincks

45. “In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth.” – Rachel Carson

46. “Far and away, the greatest threat to the ocean, and thus to ourselves, is ignorance. But we can do something about that.” – Sylvia Earle

47. “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

48. “A river starts by longing for the ocean.” – Will Advise

49. “If we look at the ocean in a calm, there is something imposing in its aspect; stretched out in its sleeping tranquility, but looking fearfully deep, and its silence seems like that of the lion when crouching for its prey.” – Jenny M Parker

50. “Waves are the voices of tides. Tides are life. They bring new food for shore creatures and take ships out to sea. They are the ocean’s pulse, and our own heartbeat.” – Tamora Pierce

Ocean quotes to nourish your soul

51. “I’m an ocean, because I’m really deep. If you search deep enough you can find rare exotic treasures.” – Christina Aguilera

52. “I want to do everything I can in my own life to protect and preserve the ocean.” – Cody Simpson

53. “Every time you dive, you hope you’ll see something new – some new species. Sometimes the ocean gives you a gift, sometimes it doesn’t.” – James Cameron

54. “It’s when I go down to the beach that the waves come up to greet me.” –
Anthony T. Hincks

55. “You’re not a wave, you’re a part of the ocean.” – Mitch Albom

56. “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

57. “When people who love the ocean come together, they can achieve extraordinary things.” – Frances Beinecke

58. “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” –Jacques Cousteau

59. “Life is like the ocean, it goes up and down.” – Vanessa Paradis

60. “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

Ocean quotes that will broaden your thoughts

61. “I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to study the ocean before we destroy it.” – James Cameron

62. “I’m concerned about the ocean and the environment. And I love whales.” – Mayim Bialik

63. “I love the smell of rain, and I love the sound of the ocean waves.” – Amy Purdy

64. “The ocean makes me feel really small and it makes me put my whole life into perspective… it humbles you and makes you feel almost like you’ve been baptized. I feel born again when I get out of the ocean.” – Beyoncé Knowles

65. “Never underestimate the power of the ocean.” – Heidi Klum

66. “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

67. “You can never turn your back on the ocean.” – Rip Torn

68. “The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul.“ – Wyland

69. “I’ve always been drawn to the ocean.” – Kenny Chesney

70. “There’s a magical energy and power from the ocean.” – Jo Beverley

Ocean quotes to lift your mood

71. “Just as every drop of the ocean carries the taste of the ocean, so does every moment carry the taste of eternity.” – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

72. “You don’t understand. You’re not a wave. You’re part of the ocean.” – Morrie Schwartz

73. “Like the ocean that remains calm in its depths even when waves rage over its surface, and like the sun that continues shining on high even during storms, we can at each moment create value and develop our state of life, enjoying our existence to the fullest in times of both suffering and joy.” –Daisaku Ikeda

74. “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

75. “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

76. “The ocean has always been a salve to my soul.” – Jimmy Buffett

77. “I threw bitter tears at the ocean, but all that came back was the tide.” –
Sarah McLachlan

78. “The sea! The sea! The open sea!, The blue, the fresh, the ever free!” –
Bryan Procter

79. “Every drop in the ocean counts.” – Yoko Ono

80. “Just as the ocean has waves or the sun has rays, so the minds’s own radiance is its thoughts and emotions.” – Sogyal Rinpoche

Ocean quotes that will make your day

81. “The human desire to obtain more is a sieve that can never be filled with all the water from the world’s oceans.” – Will Bowen

82. “Asking is the beginning of receiving. Make sure you don’t go to the ocean with a teaspoon. At least take a bucket so the kids won’t laugh at you.” – Jim Rohn

83. “Looking out over the ocean you can see reflections of God.” – Catherine Pulsifer

84. “I was happy anywhere I could see the ocean.” — Ai Yazawa

85. “As the ocean is never full of water, so is the heart never full of love.” – Unknown

86. “On the ocean of life let your mind be the ship and your heart be the compass.” – James David Manning

87. “It was one of those days when the ocean takes on all the colors of the rainbow and smiles up from the coral reef in glowing hues,” – Matt Warshaw

88. “Don’t cross oceans for people who wouldn’t cross a puddle for you.” –
Unknown

89. “I go to the ocean to calm down, to reconnect with the creator, to just be happy.” – Nnedi Okorafor

90. “Faith is knowing there is an ocean because you have seen a brook.” –
William Arthur Ward

Ocean quotes to brighten your day

91. “We could learn to leave things alone and rest in the awareness – the ocean – rather than being thrown around by the waves. This is what meditation practice is all about.” – Gelong Thubten

92. “We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.”– Aristotle Onassis

93. “Together we can face any challenges as deep as the ocean and as high as the sky.” – Sonia Gandhi

94. “Smell the sea and feel the sky.” – Van Morrison

95. “To find the pearls in life’s ocean, you have to venture out far past the shore.” – Unknown

96. “You cannot speak of the ocean to a frog that lives in a well.” –
Bill Vaughan

97. “Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone.” – Unknown

98. “Limitless and immortal, the waters are the beginning and end of all things on earth.” – Heinrich Zimmer

99. “No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm.” – Charles Kettering

100. “We know that when we protect our oceans we’re protecting our future.” – William J. Clinton

You might also like these water quotes honoring the flow of life.

Ocean quotes that will change the way you think

101. “The sea does not like to be restrained.” – Rick Riordan

102. “No dirt can touch me, like an ocean, everything that comes to me becomes clean.”― Debasish Mridha

103. “The sea will grant each man new hope, and sleep will bring dreams of home.” –Christopher Columbus

104. “You will love the ocean. It makes you feel so… I don’t know. Small, but not in a bad way. Small because you realize you’re part of something bigger.”― Lauren Myracle

105. “I like to let the ocean take me where I’m supposed to go.” – Unknown

106. “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are an ocean in a drop.”― Joy N. Hensley

107. “Ocean separates lands, not souls..”― Munia Khan

108. “I heard silence, silence infinite as the bottom of the ocean, a silence that sealed.”― Anne Spollen
If you’re enjoying these quotes, you’ll love our collection of silence quotes celebrating much-needed downtime.

109. “I go to the ocean to say goodbye.”― Charlotte Eriksson

110. “An ocean which thinks there is nothing to learn from a lake is not a wise ocean!”― Mehmet Murat ildan

Ocean quotes to inspire you today

111. “Eternity begins and ends with the ocean’s tides.” – Unknown

112. “I ain’t afraid to drown if that means I’m deep up in your ocean.”― Chris Brown

113. “Just like the ocean, I can be a little salty.” – Unknown

114. “I have always wanted to give you the world, so I started giving you pieces of the oceans that kept us apart.”― Karen Quan

115. “To escape and sit quietly on the beach — that’s my idea of paradise.” — Emilia Wickstead

116. “I couldn’t imagine living in a state that didn’t reach the ocean. It was a giant reset button. You could go to the edge of the land and see infinity and feel renewed.”― Avery Sawyer

117. “There must be something strangely sacred in salt. It is in our tears and in the sea.”― Khalil Gibran

118. “Sometimes she wants to drift away like ocean waves and sometimes she wants to stay still like a river, wrapped in solitude.”― Nitya Prakash

119. “Sand lines my soul which is filled with the breath of the ocean.”― A.D. Posey

120. “The world is a navy in an empty ocean.”― Dejan Stojanovic

Peaceful ocean quotes

121. “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” – Ryunosuke Satoro

122. “The sea is an underwater museum still awaiting its visitors.” – Philippe Diolé

123. “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” – Rabindranath Tagore

124. “The sea appears all golden, Beneath the sun-lit sky.” – Heinrich Heine

125. “The sea is a desert of waves, A wilderness of water.” – Langston Hughes

126. “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

127. “Don’t spend your entire life building a ship, without ever tasting the salt of the ocean.” – Alexander Den Heijer

128. “White sand beaches, turquoise waters, and red sky sunsets.” – Julie Bradley

129. “Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean.” – Christopher Reeve

130. “A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor.” – Anonymous

More ocean quotes and sayings

131. “How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is clearly Ocean.” – Arthur C. Clarke

132. “The waves of the sea help me get back to me.” – Anonymous

133. “The sea is the only embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence.” – Jules Verne

134. “I need the sea because it teaches me.” – Pablo Neruda

135. “At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.” – Robin Lee Graham

136. “I’m the ocean. I’m the sea. There is a world inside of me.” – Anonymous

137. “After a visit to the beach, it’s hard to believe that we live in a material world.” – Pam Shaw

138. “The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place.” – Rachel Carson

139. “The true beauty of the sea cannot be discovered unless we go within.” – Asad Meah

140. “Beautiful secrets are whispered to your soul by a quiet sea.” – Anonymous

Ocean quotes for people who love the water

141. “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

142. “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn

143. “A healthy ocean is vital to our economy and well-being. We need clean and healthy oceans to sustain tourism and fisheries.” – Scott Peters

144. “The ocean is this beautiful, unexplored place. Why on Earth everyone isn’t down there, I don’t know.” – Graham Hawkes

145. “I shall go the way of the open sea, to the lands I knew before you came, and the cool ocean breezes shall blow from me the memory of your name.” – Adela Florence Nicolson

146. “Like a shipwreck or a jetty, almost anything that forms a structure in the ocean, whether it is natural or artificial over time, collects life.” – Sylvia Earle

147. “I love the ocean. Anywhere near the ocean will do. Preferably the Atlantic Ocean.” – Ben Fogle

148. “My favorite place to vacation is anyplace by the ocean.” – Nina Arianda

149.  “I filmed underwater for two days in the open ocean with dolphins.” – Kathleen Quinlan

150. “We have been far too aggressive about extracting ocean wildlife, not appreciating that there are limits and even points of no return.” – Sylvia Earle

Which of these ocean quotes was your favorite?

Oceans provide countless benefits to planet earth and humankind. They produce the air we breathe, regulate our climates and weather patterns, facilitate transport, provide us with many unique recreational activities, are a source of food and much more.

No matter how far from the shore you live, the oceans affect you in so many ways. Hopefully, the quotes above have inspired you to become a better steward of our oceans.

Did you enjoy these ocean quotes? Which of the quotes was your favorite? Let us know in the comment section below. Also, don’t forget to share with your friends and followers.