Far away from where I am now there is a little gap in the hills, and beyond it the sea; and 'tis there I do be looking the whole day long, for it's the nearest thing to yourself that I can see.

-Anonymous
c.1900  Letter from an unidentified Irish postboy to his beloved, quoted in Maurice Healy  The Old Munster Circuit.

The sea of faith Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world.

-Arnold, Matthew
  'Dover Beach', stanza 3.

   Yes! in the sea of life enisled, With echoing straits between us thrown, Dotting the shoreless watery wild, We mortal millions live alone.

-Arnold, Matthew
  Empedocles on Etna and Other Poems,'To MargueriteöContinued', l.1^4.

A God, a God their severance ruled! And bade betwixt their shores to be The unplumbed, salt, estranging sea.

-Arnold, Matthew
  Empedocles on Etna and Other Poems,'To MargueriteöContinued', l.22^4.

Theyare ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.

-Bacon, Francis,Viscount St Albans
  The Advancement of Learning, bk.2, ch.7, section 5.

'I saw the new moon late yestreen, Wi' the auld moon in her arm; And if we gang to sea, master, I fear we'll come to harm.'

-Ballads
'Sir Patrick Spens'.

There lived a wife at Usher's Well, And a wealthy wife was she; She had three stout and stalwart sons, And sent them o'er the sea.

-Ballads
'The Wife of Usher's Well', opening lines.

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed Hisgrace on thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.

-Bates, Katharine Lee
  'America the Beautiful', opening lines.

Homme libre, toujours tu che¤  riras la mer. Free man! You shall always cherish the sea.

-Baudelaire, Charles
  Les Fleurs du mal,'L'Homme et la mer'.

Everywhere the sea is a teacher of truth. I am not sure that the best thing I find in sailing is not this salt of reality.

-Belloc, (Joseph) Hilaire Pierre
c.1910  The Cruise of the Nona.

I emerged at last, stumbled a few steps in the mud and then I saw it: an ethereal mountain emerging from a tossing sea of clouds framed between two dark barracksöa massive, blue-black tooth of sheer rock inlaid with azure glaciers, austere yet floating fairy-like on the near horizon. It was the first17,000-foot peak I had ever seen. I stood gazing until the vision disappeared among the shifting cloud banks. For hours afterwards I remained spell-bound. I had definitely fallen in love.

-Benuzzi, Felice
  No Picnic on Mount Kenya.

Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high asheaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measurethereof islonger thanthe earth, and broader than the sea.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Job11:7^9.

Soisthisgreat and widesea, whereinarethings creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Psalms104:25^7.

They that go down to thesea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the L, and his wonders in the deep.

-Bible (Old Testament)
ORDPsalms107:23^4.

   Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If Isay, Surely the darknessshall cover me; even thenight shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Psalms139:7^12.

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Ecclesiastes1:7.

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw likethe ox. And thesucking child shall playonthehole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice'den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the L, as the waters cover the sea.

-Bible (Old Testament)
ORDIsaiah11:6^9.

  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord G, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the L: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the L, and shall not find it.

-Bible (Old Testament)
ODORDORDAmos 8:11^12.

By this also ye must know that women have dominion over you: doye not labourand toil, and give and bring all to the woman? Yea, a man taketh his sword, and goeth his way to rob and to steal, to sail upon the sea and upon rivers; And looketh upon a lion, and goeth in the darkness; and when he hath stolen, spoiled, and robbed, he bringeth it to his love.

-Bible (Apocrypha)
Esdras 4:22^4.

And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord,saveus: weperish. And hesaithuntothem,Whyare ye fearful,O ye of littlefaith? Thenhearose, and rebuked St Matthew the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying,What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Matthew 8:25^7.