We rowed with all our strength under the wise guidance of our father. We were hot from work and happy. Father sat with an oar in the stern – cheerful and strong. He felt like a savior of the drowning, a seafaring hero, Vasco da Gama. And although life sent him a puddle instead of an ocean, his soul was oceanic. And precisely because his soul would be enough for an entire ocean, Vasco da Gama sometimes could not stand this disproportion and sunk his ships in the tavern.
If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.
—Thomas Aquinas
He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast.
—Leonardo Da Vinci
If Jesus built a ship,
She would travel trim;
If Jesus roofed a barn,
No leaks would be left by Him;
If Jesus planted a garden,
He would make it like Paradise;
If Jesus did my day’s work,
It would delight His Father’s eyes.
—Amy Carmichael
A war of ideas can no more be won without books than a naval war can be won without ships. Books, like ships, have the toughest armor, the longest cruising range, and mount the most powerful guns.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt