Books
Going to the beach means sun, sand, and plenty of posts to the 'gram. And if you want your pictures to shine, one of the best ways to show the amazing time you're having by the shore is to pair those cute pics with a memorable literary quote about the beach.
The seaside has long inspired the pens of literature's finest authors. The ocean is alluring, mysterious, and healing. The beach seems to cast a spell where time stops and anything can happen, both in fiction and in real life.
Just close your eyes and think about the seaside for a moment. Imagine the stunning tapestry of colors as the sun sets over the ocean. Listen to the pulse of the waves crashing against the shore. Breathe in the salty air. Feel the sand beneath your toes, the sun hitting your back. Let the music of children playing and seagulls calling hit your ears.
Authors have written pages upon pages about the sea. On this list, you'll find quotes from a wide range of authors, from Victor Hugo to Edwidge Danticat to Jenny Han. Whether you're pairing it with a pic of you and your friends in' your favorite bathing suits or a dreamy boomerang of the waves hitting the shore, there's a quote here that will make the perfect addition to your summer social media groove. These are times you'll want to remember, and there's no better way to capture them than with some literary flair.
Summer is here, and the ocean is calling your name. So soak it all up, and give it a share. Here are 15 literary quotes that will make the perfect Insta captions for your epic beach pics:
"For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)/it's always ourselves we find in the sea."
— e.e. cummings, "maggie and milly and molly and may"
"When you walk on the beach at night, you can say things you can't say in real life."
— Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty
"[H]ow life, from being made up of little separate incidents which one lived one by one, became curled and whole like a wave which bore one up and threw one down with it, there, with a dash on the beach."
— Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
"I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought."
— Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
"We were miraculous. We were beach creatures. We had treasures in our pockets and each other on our skin."
— Nina LaCour, We Are Okay
"Look at that sea, girls--all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn't enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
“I have been feeling very clearheaded lately and what I want to write about today is the sea. It contains so many colors. Silver at dawn, green at noon, dark blue in the evening. Sometimes it looks almost red. Or it will turn the color of old coins. Right now the shadows of clouds are dragging across it, and patches of sunlight are touching down everywhere. White strings of gulls drag over it like beads. It is my favorite thing, I think, that I have ever seen. Sometimes I catch myself staring at it and forget my duties. It seems big enough to contain everything anyone could ever feel.”
― Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See
“There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
"The sea, the sea, the sea. It rolled and rolled and called to me. Come in, it said, come in.”
― Sharon Creech, The Wanderer
“So much had fallen into the sea. Hats fell in to the sea. Hearts fell into the sea. So much had fallen into the sea”
― Edwidge Danticat, Claire of the Sea Light
"[B]efore 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, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
"One is always in the hold of the world, but one doesn't physically feel its hold, doesn't account for its effect. Cannot draw comfort from the hold of the world, which registers only as a neutral emptiness. But the sea one feels. And so surrounded, so steadily held, so gently rocked - so differently organized - one's thoughts come in another form.”
― Nicole Krauss, Forest Dark
