For there is nothing mysterious to a seaman unless it be the sea itself, which is the mistress of his existence.

Happiness, happiness ... the flavor is with you-with you alone, and you can make it as intoxicating as you please.

A modern fleet of ships does not so much make use of the sea as exploit a highway.

Lights of ships moved in the fairway-a great stir of lights going up and going down. And farther west on the upper reaches the place of the monstrous town was still marked ominously on the sky, a brooding gloom in sunshine, a lurid glare under the stars.

Hang ideas! They are tramps, vagabonds, knocking at the back-door of your mind, each taking a little of your substance, each carrying away some crumb of that belief in a few simple notions you must cling to if you want to live decently and would like to die easy!

The real significance of crime is in its being a breach of faith with the community of mankind.

The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.