These top 140 waves quotes will make you want to drop everything and just go to the beach.
For many people, the ocean offers a place to relax—a place of quiet to help you think about everything that’s going on in life.
In this collection, we’re featuring our favorite quotes that talk about everything when it comes to waves.
So whether you love surfing, the beach, the sun, or even if you’re just looking for some words of wisdom to get you through the week, this collection is definitely a must-read!
Check out the full list here.
Best Wave Quotes
1. “You’re not a wave; you’re a part of the ocean.” – Mitch Albom
2. “For a surfer, it’s never-ending. There’s always some wave you want to surf.” – Kelly Slater
3. “It’s a wonderful metaphor—catching a wave—for how you can look at other challenges in your life.” – Jeff Bridges
4. “The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.” – Vladimir Nabokov
5. “I’m surfing the giant life wave.” – William Shatner
6. “There is no new wave, only the sea.” – Claude Chabrol
7. “Just take your time—wave comes. Let the other guys go, catch another one.” – Duke Kahanamoku
8. “Waves are the practice of water. To speak of waves apart from water, or water apart from waves is a delusion.” – Suzuki Roshi
9. “Life is a wave, which in no two consecutive moments of its existence is composed of the same particles.” – John Tyndall
Wave Quotes on Surfing and Relaxation
10. “A wave isn’t like a skate ramp or mountain; everything’s moving around, and you have to time how to move along with it. That’s easier with a slow wave.” – Kelly Slater
11. “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf?” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
12. “The waves broke and spread their waters swiftly over the shore. One after another, they massed themselves and fell; the spray tossed itself back with the energy of their fall. The waves were steeped deep-blue save for a pattern of diamond-pointed light on their backs which rippled as the backs of great horses ripple with muscles as they move. The waves fell; withdrew and fell again, like the thud of a great beast stamping.” – Virginia Woolf
13. “I like being in warm weather. I find that it relaxes me. I like being near water. I like sitting on a beach and sort of hearing the water, watching waves break, looking at the shimmering. I find that really relaxing.” – Stephen A. Schwarzman
14. “The sea is a desert of waves—a wilderness of water.” – Langston Hughes
15. “Surfing waves of water or clouds of powder snow is the best feeling on earth.” – Hannah Teter
16. “Currents shift and move, but it’s only where the water breaks that the wave becomes visible. A pandemonium occurs, where substances collide, and then something new comes into being.” – Clare Strahan
17. “A wave can kill you. Or you can ride it. It’s sometimes more dangerous to shy away. You can’t live your life in fear. You have to be prepared to get on your board and stand on your feet. If you are in the barrel of a wave you have to ignore the fear. You have to be in that moment. You have to carve on through. You get scared, and the next thing you know you are off your board and smashing your head on a rock. I’m never going to live in fear.” – Matt Haig
18. “Every wave is new until it breaks.” – Neil Young
19. “Every wave, regardless of how high and forceful it crests, must eventually collapse within itself.” – Stefan Zweig
Wave Quotes on the Beach and the Ocean
20. “Home is where the waves are.” – Anonymous
21. “Let the waves hit your feet, and the sand be your seat.” – Anonymous
22. “Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
23. “Just like the ocean, always in love with the moon.” – Jeff Buckley
24. “When the wild wave meets the calm beach, when anger reaches tranquillity, anger disappears, serenity triumphs, the wave experiences enlightenment!” – Mehmet Murat ildan
25. “The cure for anything is salt water—sweat, tears, or the sea.” – Isak Dinesen
26. “The castle of Cair Paravel on its little hill towered up above them; before them were the sands, with rocks and little pools of salt water, and seaweed, and the smell of the sea and long miles of bluish-green waves breaking for ever and ever on the beach. And oh, the cry of the seagulls! Have you ever heard it? Can you remember?” – C. S. Lewis
27. “Waves tossed themselves against the shore, dragging grit and sand between their nails as they were slowly pulled back out to sea.” – Holly Black
28. “Like the waves of the ocean, they do not disappear. When one goes away, another one appears. Good women make life an amazing wonder.” – Gift Gugu Mona
29. “A wave is never found alone, but is mingled with the other waves.” – Leonardo da Vinci
Wave Quotes on Life
30. “Sometimes, you just have to go with the waves.” – Anonymous
31. “The waves of the sea help me get back to me.” – Jill Davis
32. “Waves are the voices of tides. Tides are life.” – Tamora Pierce
33. “Life’s a wave; catch it.” – Anonymous
34. “I wish to spend a lifetime near a lighthouse where loneliness will be the glimmer of luminous prancing upon ocean waves—rising and falling only for my breathing.” – Munia Khan
35. “Don’t worry if you’re making waves simply by being yourself. The moon does it all the time.” – Scott Stabile
36. “Listen to the sound of waves within you.” – Rumi
37. “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.” – Henry David Thoreau
38. “Let the world be as it is and learn to rock with the waves.” – Joseph Campbell
39. “Let the waves carry you where the light can not.” – Mohit Kaushik
40. “The secret of success is to be in harmony with existence, to be always calm to let each wave of life wash us a little farther up the shore.” – Cyril Connolly
41. “Life comes at us in waves. We can’t predict or control those waves, but we can learn to surf.” – Dan Millman
42. “I wasted time and memories on waves.” – Ben Ditmars
43. “Life is like the ocean. You can either be the ball floating on the waves, or make your own waves.” – Oliver Gaspirtz
44. “Like a wave we often float ashore to find something that feels like home.” – Giovannie de Sadeleer
Wave Quotes on Emotions
45. “Feelings are much like waves—we can’t stop them from coming, but we can choose which one to surf.” – Jonatan Mårtensson
46. “When you do dance, I wish you a wave of the sea—that you might ever do nothing but that.” – William Shakespeare
47. “Her happiness floated like waves of ocean along the coast of her life. She found lyrics of her life in his arms, but she never sang her song.” – Santosh Kalwar
48. “When they are gay, the waves echo their gaiety; but when they are sad, then every breaker, as it rolls, seems to bring additional sadness, and to speak to us of hopelessness and of the pettiness of all our joys.” – Baroness Orczy
49. “I found myself in a sea in which the waves of joy and sorrow were clashing against each other.” – Naguib Mahfouz
50. “The sea, to be happy, like hearts, must be stirred.” – Will Advise
51. “Love was like the waves in the sea, gentle and good sometimes, rough and terrible at others, but that it was endless and stronger than the sky and earth and everything in between.” – Veronica Rossi
52. “Waves are not measured in feet or inches, they are measured in increments of fear.” – Buzzy Trent
53. “Just as the ocean has waves or the sun has rays, so the mind’s own radiance is its thoughts and emotions.” – Sogyal Rinpoche
54. “Love fragrances and colours the breath waves that inspire the heart language.” – Ehsan Sehgal
55. “True love is the tide that pulls out to sea, but always returns to kiss the shore at sunrise.” – Shannon L. Alder
56. “Let us be the waves of love and let it wash the universe.” – Debasish Mridha
57. “Waves are not as dangerous as fear of waves.” – Vikrmn
58. “To judge a man by his weakest link or deed is like judging the power of the ocean by one wave.” – Elvis Presley
59. “Now this is very profound, what rhythm is, and goes far deeper than words. A sight, an emotion, creates this wave in the mind, long before it makes words to fit it.” – Virginia Woolf
Inspirational Wave Quotes
60. “Waves are inspiring not because they rise and fail, but because each time they fall, they never fail to rise again.” – Josh Billings
61. “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
62. “Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.” – Marcus Aurelius
63. “But where, after all, would be the poetry of the sea were there no wild waves?” – Joshua Slocum
64. “Neither can the wave that has passed by be recalled, nor can the hour which has passed return again.” – Ovid
65. “Being creative on the waves is challenging, but we each create art in our own way.” – Bethany Hamilton
66. “In a mind clear as still water, even the waves breaking are reflecting its light.” – Dogen
67. “The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.” – Edward Gibbon
68. “Stop running after the waves. Let the sea come to you.” – Elif Safak
69. “Waves keep coming, that’s the one thing you can count on in life.” – Gerry Lopez
Meaningful Wave Quotes
70. “I love the smell of rain, and I love the sound of the ocean waves.” – Amy Purdy
71. “Just like a sunbeam can’t separate itself from the sun, and a wave can’t separate itself from the ocean, we can’t separate ourselves from one another. We are all part of a vast sea of love—one indivisible divine mind.” – Marianne Williamson
72. “Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand.” – Muhammad Ali
73. “Complete peace equally reigns between two mental waves.” – Swami Sivananda
74. “You are the ocean; everything else is just waves and wind.” – Steve Maraboli
75. “He was beneath the waves—a creature crawling the ocean bottom.” – Doppo Kunikida
76. “Only those who row the boat make waves.” – Christina Dodd
77. “There is no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves.” – Darwi Odrade
78. “The tide rises, the tide falls; the twilight darkens, the curlew calls; the little waves, with their soft, white hands, efface the footprints in the sands, and the tide rises, the tide falls.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
79. “The wave does not need to die to become water. She is already water.” – Nhat Hanh
Short and Snappy Wave Quotes
80. “Catch you on the next wave.” – Anonymous
81. “Let the ocean worry about being blue.” – Alabama Shakes
82. “If there’s a will, there’s a wave.” – Anonymous
83. “The waves are calling.” – Anonymous
84. “I’ll be wherever the waves are.” – Anonymous
85. “Life is both a particle and a wave.” – Robin Wasserman
86. “As endless as the ocean, as timeless as the tides.” – Anonymous
87. “She made gentle the wild oceans of my soul.” – Atticus
88. “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” – Rumi
89. “Dance with the waves, move with the sea. Let the rhythm of the water set your soul free.” – Christy Ann Martine
90. “Mermaids make waves, not ripples.” – Anonymous
91. “She’s got oceans tucked away in her hair, poems swim under her skin.” – Sanober Khan
92. “Let’s dip our toes in the ocean.” – Anonymous
93. “Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
94. “Women like you drown oceans.” – Rupi Kaur
Powerful Wave Quotes
95. “There’s no way to move without making waves.” – Malcolm Forbes
96. “Once more upon the waters! Yet once more! And the waves bound beneath me as a steed that knows his rider.” – Lord Byron
97. “The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.” – Thomas Jefferson
98. “Waves are toys from God.” – Clay Marzo
99. “Waves, once they land on the beach, are not reversible.” – Grace Paley
100. “The wave is the same thing as the water—the effect is the cause in another form.” – Swami Vivekananda
101. “Be water. Flowing, flexible, and soft. Subtly powerful and open. Wild and serene. Able to accept all changes, yet still led by the pull of steady tides. It is enough.” – Victoria Erickson
102. “I tried to discover, in the rumor of forests and waves, words that other men could not hear, and I pricked up my ears to listen to the revelation of their harmony.” – Gustav Flaubert
103. “Through living in a space that we do not understand, everything may become meaningless, incoherent, and forcefully scary. If fear rules our lives, we lose the core of our being, since fear disrupts the schedule of our existence and blocks the soothing waves of the sound vibrations.” – Erik Pevernagie
104. “The waves move across a faint horizon, the rush of love and the surge of grief, the respite of peace and then fear again, the heart that beats and then lies still, the rise and fall and rise and fall of all of it, the incoming and the outgoing, the infinite procession of life. And the ocean wraps the earth, a reminder. The mysteries come forward in waves.” – Susan Casey
105. “There are always waves on the water. Sometimes they are big, sometimes they are small, and sometimes they are almost imperceptible. The water’s waves are churned up by the winds, which come and go and vary in direction and intensity, just as do the winds of stress and change in our lives, which stir up the waves in our minds.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
106. “To all the fish, big or small, may a wave carry you to the top of a tree some day. And from that summit, may you contemplate the immensity of the ocean.” – Zidrou and Aimée de Jongh
107. “Life is a wave of consciousness in the ocean of time.” – Debasish Mridha
108. “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
109. “The universe works in crazy ways. Your good luck will come in waves, and so does your bad, so you have to take the good with the bad and press forward.” – Nick Cummins
Insightful Wave Quotes
110. “Sometimes, she wants to drift away like ocean waves. And sometimes, she wants to stay still like a river wrapped in solitude.” – Nitya Prakash
111. “The winds and waves disported themselves like the amorphous bulks of leviathans whose brows are pierced by no light of reason.” – Virginia Woolf
112. “We think the journey of the wave ends when it reaches the shore! No, it doesn’t! When the wave reaches the shore, it changes something on the shore. When something changes, a new story begins there. This story is also the story of the wave; the journey of the wave continues in another form!” – Mehmet Murat ildan
113. “Some waves will touch your shore; they have come from the sea, carrying messages from me to you. When these waves reach your shore, you will be astonished at their beauty. They will be soft and sublime. They will carry music—melodious pieces of songs of the sea. Listen well. Listen deeply. They carry magic. Feel it with all your depth.” – Avijeet Das
114. “Just take my hand, lead, dance with me, and I will simply follow the blueness of the water, the white waves rolling free, where the earth beneath my feet and stars make my heart whole again, in long and priceless moments of shared solitude.” – Oksana Rus
115. “Several times, waves passed over our heads, but they fell back the next instant. We were drenched, we were numbed, we were blinded, we were deafened; but always we were saved.” – Sussana Clarke
116. “Sometimes, big waves are hidden inside small waves; the revolt of every big storm starts with a small wave!” – Mehmet Murat ildan
117. “Yesterday, I was an ocean. Today, I am just another wave crashing on the shore.” – Nitya Prakash
118. “Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.” – Saint Augustine
119. “People choose to struggle when people don’t want to relax. Sometimes, it is not on your side. Relax; calm down. No matter how hard the waves are, you will float on the ocean.” – Kubra Sait
Wave Quotes Perfect for Your Captions
120. “The ocean is full of untamed magic.” – Anonymous
121. “No one knows how far it goes.” – Auli’i Cravalho
122. “I’ll have a side of waves with my morning coffee.” – Anonymous
123. “All they do is beach, beach, beach.” – Anonymous
124. “Gone with the waves.” – Anonymous
125. “I always like to say hello to the sea, because no matter what, it will wave back to me.” – Anonymous
126. “You, me, and the sea.” – Anonymous
127. “Running down to the riptide.” – Vance Joy
128. “Give me a dose of vitamin sea.” – Anonymous
129. “Summer textures are here to stay.” – Anonymous
130. “I’m caught up in the wave of you.” – Surfaces
131. “There’s no such thing as bad tides.” – Anonymous
132. “Go where your signal is weak and the waves are strong.” – Anonymous
133. “Stay salty, my friends.” – Anonymous
134. “Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly.” – Van Morrison
More Wave Quotes
135. “The future crashing into the present like a wave.” – Eren Morgenstern
136. “When the storms rage, God will carry you to the shore, just like a wave.” – Gift Gugu Mona
137. “Surf the wave of insanity.” – Steven Magee
138. “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
139. “I love the sounds and the power of pounding water—whether it is the waves or a waterfall.” – Mike May
140. “Life is a series of waves to be embraced and overcome.” – Danny Meyer
Are You Confident Enough to Ride the Waves of Life?
There’s just something about the ocean that makes you feel calm and relaxed. After all, it’s one of the most beautiful gifts of nature to the world. However, the waves and the ocean are so much more than just something pretty to look at.
They have their practical and obvious uses—like transporting ships, a home for sea life, and surfing. But waves are also metaphors we use to concretize different things in life. They remind us to be free and to be bold like them. We face a multitude of challenges in life, but like the waves in the ocean, life never stops and we should never stop moving forward and getting back up too.
What lessons did you pick up from this collection? Do you also find the waves and the sea relaxing and comforting? We’d love to hear your thoughts so be sure you comment down below.
