“Religion is, as it were, the calm bottom of the sea at its deepest point, which remains calm however high the waves on the surface may be.”

“Why does pouring oil on the sea make it clear and calm? Is it for that the winds, slipping the smooth oil, have no force, nor cause any waves?”

“.. the flat surface of a perfectly calm ocean [which] disturbs us.... by all the unknown that is hidden in the depth.”

“If you throw a stone into a lake, it makes waves on the surface. Eventually the waves disappear, but just because you can longer see them does not mean that they are really gone. They have just become too small for us to see them. In the same way, we calm our mind by half, half, half… and the waves of the mind become infinitely calm. They never actually stop.”

“In a calm sea every man is a pilot.”

“So his life has flowed
From its mysterious urn a sacred stream,
In whose calm depth the beautiful and pure
Alone are mirrored; which, though shapes of ill
May hover round its surface, glides in light,
And takes no shadow from them.”

“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.”
In tranquillo esse quisque gubernator potest.

“Finally, by the sea, where God is everywhere, I gradually calmed.”

“Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.”

“Two there on the beach / as close together as nostrils. / Calm sea day.”