Updated June 12, 2021
Surfing is one of the most unique and wonderful sports – it’s just you, your board, and the open ocean. We love surfing because every day, every location, and every set of weather conditions create a unique experience. A lot of times, when we read some of the best surfing quotes by inspiring athletes and surfers, we feel motivated to get out there and hit the waves. We chose these surfing captions and quotes to help you get excited about your next surfing trip!
Classic Quotes About Surfing
While there are tons of awesome quotes about surfing, there are a few classic ones that come up time and time again. The best thing about the classic surfing quotes is that that actually make great surfing captions, too – many people can relate to them whether or not they can actually surf.
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” — John Kabat-Zinn
“Surfing’s one of the few sports that you look ahead to see what’s behind.” — Laird Hamilton
“When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. But when life hands you hurricanes, you go surfing.” — Jon Foreman
“Surfing is a way to be free.” — Lisa Anderson
“The three most important things in life: surf, surf, surf.” — Jack O’Neill
“Life’s just better when you add surfing to it.” — Ben Marcus
“We’re all equal before a wave.” — Laird Hamilton
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” — Andre Gide
“Surfing’s a more profound kind of sport than it looks. When you surf, you learn not to fight the power of nature, even if it gets violent.” — Haruki Murakami
“Let the ocean worry about being blue.” — Alabama Shakes, “Hang Loose”
“When life gives you rough waves, surf’em.” — Duke Kahanamoku
“Feelings are much like waves. We can’t stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf.” — Jonatan Martesson
“Surfing soothes me, it’s always been a kind of Zen experience for me. The ocean is so magnificent, peaceful, and awesome. The rest of the world disappears for me when I’m on a wave.” — Paul Walker
“One of the greatest things about the sport of surfing is that you need only three things: your body, a surf-board, and a wave.” — Naima Green
Deep & Inspiring Surfing Quotes
Sometimes, life hands us challenges and events that we fear. Surfing teaches many lessons that help us face these difficult circumstances head-on. These surfing quotes are an excellent reminder that we can handle all of the obstacles that life hands us, just like we can learn to ride any wave that comes our way.
“I need the sea because it teaches me.” — Pablo Neruda
“Surfing is a secret garden, not easily entered. My memory of learning a spot, of coming to know and understand a wave, is usually inseparable from the friend with whom I tried to climb its walls.” — William Finnegan
“Surfing frees everything up, it’s just the best soul fix. Life should be stress-free, and that’s what surfing is all about. It’s something you do in your sleep, with your eyes closed; it’s something you’ll constantly embrace and be passionate about, and whatever it takes, you’re gonna do it, because nothing else in the world can give you that kind of self-esteem.” — Rell Sunn
“I think it’s just the spirit of adventure. People get excited about travel and the unknown when you’re going out to a wave that maybe nobody’s ever surfed before. It’s just the whole spirit of exploration.” — Richie Fitzgerald
“Surfing is rehabilitative because the ocean, like war, is a minefield. Filled with sharks and other unknowns, it requires acceptance of chaos. But … once you embrace the chaos, it’s beautiful.” — Eric Stoneking
“Going to places where you can find those waves where you still have it to yourself; that’s one of the most special things in surfing. There’s so much coastline that’s still undiscovered.” — Chris Malloy
“It’s so cool to be traveling around the world searching for good waves, meeting people, competing, living from the sport, and doing what you love. It’s beautiful.” — Jacqueline Silva
“Surfers, because they’re exposed to the wild, have something that most of society has lost. Most of society is completely cut off from the wild, completely cut off from the natural world they live in. Climate controlled automobiles or houses or whatever they are… In this day and age where you have such fractured societies, who is there more prepared and more globalised and more integrated into the natural world and the global community than surfers?” — Drew Kampion
“Where but the moment before was only the wide desolation and invincible roar, is now a man, erect, full-statured, not struggling frantically in that wild movement, not buried and crushed and buffeted by those mighty monsters, but standing above them all, calm and superb, poised on the giddy summit, his feet buried in the churning foam, the salt smoke rising to his knees, and all the rest of him in the free air and flashing sunlight, and he is flying through the air, flying forward, flying fast as the surge on which he stands. He is a Mercury — a brown Mercury. His heels are winged, and in them is the swiftness of the sea.” — Jack London
“There’s so many parallels that can be drawn between how you interact with the ocean and how you interact with life, they’re both constantly shifting beasts.” — Caitlin Creeper
“Surfing is a release from exploding tensions of 20th-century living, escaping from the hustling, bustling city world of steel and concrete, a return to nature’s reality.” — Fred Wardy
“We wanted to explore for new waves, discover our own spots, find beaches without another surfboard in sight.” — Kevin Naughton and Craig Peterson
“For me, surfing is as close a connection I can have with Mother Nature. To surf, you’re riding a pulse of energy from Mother Nature. And it’s strong. It’s real. It’s there. And you’re dancing with that. You’re connecting with that. You’re might be the only person in the history of the universe that connects with that particular pulse of energy.” — Xavier Rudd
“I’m surfing the giant life wave.” — William Shatner
“Life is a wave, which in no two consecutive moments of its existence is composed of the same particles.” — John Tyndall
“Surfing, alone among sports, generates laughter at its very suggestion, and this is because it turns not a skill into an art, but an inexplicable and useless urge into a vital way of life.” — Matt Warshaw
“Out of the water, I am nothing.” — Duke Kahanomoku
“Just take your time, another comes. Let the other guys go, take another one.” — Duke Kahanomoku
“Waves are not measured in feet and inches, they are measured in increments of fear.” — Buzzy Trent
“Surfing is simply the most fun I know how to have in this planet.” — Antony Garrett
“The biggest sin in the world would be if I lost my love for the ocean.” — Laird Hamilton
“There’s no secret to balance, you just have to feel the waves.” — Frank Herbert
“I think when a surfer becomes a surfer, it’s almost like an obligation to be an environmentalist at the same time.” — Kelly Slater
“When the surfs up, your life is too.” — Wilhelm Sverdvik
“Surfing is attitude dancing.” — Gerry Lopez
“Never drive away from good surf.” — Roger Sharp
“Surfing to me is like playing music. You play different melodies with different boards.” — Skip Frye
“Wiping out is an underappreciated skill.” — Laird Hamilton
“Nobody gets to the end of their life and wishes they surfed less.” Bradley Hook
“The joy of surfing is so many things combined, from the physical exertion of it, to the challenge of it, to the mental side of the sport.” — Kelly Slater
“What I love the most about surfing is that it’s my first love. It’s the first thing I can remember being consumed by.” — Stephanie Gilmore
“There’s an independence to surfing, it’s just you and the ocean. There aren’t a bunch of rules.” — Lee Clow
“I’ve always thought surfing is a reflection of who you are.” — Kelly Slater
“Sliding a wave removes our brains out of the ordinary and slips us into the extraordinary of being there now. No more worries about mortgages or strife of being poor or rich. When you enter the domain of an ocean cylinder, that moment, those split seconds belong to the Zen part of just being. Period.” Bill Hamilton
“Surfing leads you through life, especially when you’re young and with hope in your heart.” — Tom Blake
Funny Quotes about Surfing
Sometimes, things happen in the water and you just have to laugh about them! These funny quotes about surfing are a great way to find humor in the sport and in your life, even when things are difficult.
“Waves are like women, you can never get enough of them, always want a better, more dangerous one, and occasionally you get dumped.” — Robert Black
“Road trips usually start with a sneaking suspicion: somewhere else on the coast someone is getting better waves than you are.” — Kevin Naughton and Craig Peterson
“Surfing is such an amazing concept. You’re taking on Nature with a little stick and saying, ‘I’m gonna ride you!’ And a lot of times Nature says, ‘No you’re not!’ and crashes you to the bottom.” — Jolene Blalock
“Surfing is very much like making love. It always feels good, no matter how many times you’ve done it.” — Paul Strauch
“Surfing in crowds is like mind over matter. If I don’t mind it don’t matter.” — Brodus Rogers
“I tried changing my surfing, which is the absolute worst thing you can do. Everyone surfs their own way. If I try to surf like someone else I look like a dork.” — Andy Irons
Best Surfing Quotes by Bethany Hamilton
Bethany Hamilton is perhaps one of the most well-known surfers in the world. When she was surfing as a young teenager in 2003, a tiger shark attacked her and severed her arm. She nearly died from the incident, but made a full recovery and went on to become a professional surfer. In her book, Soul Surfer, she recounts her inspiring story in depth and we’d highly recommend reading it! These surfing quotes by Bethany Hamilton will give you a peek into just how courageous and inspiring this woman is.
“My passion for surfing was more than my fear for sharks.” — Bethany Hamilton
“Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.” — Bethany Hamilton
“Life is a lot like surfing…. When you get caught in the impact zone, you’ve got to just get back up. Because you never know what may be over the next wave.” — Bethany Hamilton
“I don’t need easy, I just need possible.” — Bethany Hamilton
“Surfing for me is more than my lifestyle; it’s my passion, my love, and it’s a part of me.” — Bethany Hamilton
“Love is bigger than any tidal wave or fear.” — Bethany Hamilton
Best Surfing Captions
Posting your favorite surfing photos and looking for the best surfing captions for Instagram? Look no further – here are a few of our absolute favorites!
“If in doubt, paddle out.” — Nat Young
“The best wave of your life is still out there.” — Steven Hawk
“Surfing is almost a way to fly.” — Jeff Hakman
“Live to surf, surf to live.” — Mike Doyle
“If you’re having a bad day, catch a wave.” — Frosty Hesson
“There is not one right way to ride a wave.” — Jamie O’Brien
“There are a million ways to surf, and as long as you’re smiling you’re doing it right.” — Unknown
“Surfing is like life. Every wave and every day are different.” — Unknown
“Part of surfing for me isn’t the surfing. It’s moments where I am alive and living and connected. This is why I am here.” — Janne Robinson
“Sometimes in the morning, when it’s a good surf, I go out there, and I don’t feel like it’s a bad world.” — Kary Mullis
“Surfing is the most blissful experience you can have on this planet, a taste of heaven.” — John McCarthy
