20 Surf Quotes That Speak to the Soul

While there are many compilations of surf quotes, they are usually the exact, run-of-the-mill quotes that pop up repeatedly. Yet, as both lovers of the sport of surfing and avid readers, we have done a deep dive into some of our favorite surf literature.

In so doing, we have compiled a list of 20 of our favorite surf quotes from some of the best surfers and surf writers in the world, including Gerry Lopez, Rell Sunn, Tom Blake, William Finnegan, Matt Warshaw, and Lauren L. Hill.

Surfing is a unique and pleasurable experience that is difficult to express to non-surfers. (Perhaps this is why the surf literature genre is so sparse.) We believe that each of these surf quotes was selected for its ability to convey the essence of surfing.

We hope this compilation of surf quotes helps explain why surfers sacrifice so much of their lives chasing waves.

Quotes about the essence of surfing

It’s hard to convey the overall essence of surfing to someone who’s never tried it before, but these surfers give it their best shot in the following surf quotes.

“The first time you get a ride on a surfboard and you are being propelled along by a wave, it’s probably as close as humans can get to being able to fly like a bird. I’ve tried to think about it and figure out what it is exactly that makes it so wonderful. I guess it’s a sense of freedom. When you’re gliding along on a wave, you are kind of leaving gravity behind—and you soar. It’s such a tremendous feeling that grips you down to your core.”

Gerry Lopez

“Trying to explain color to a blind person and trying to explain surfing to someone who’s never surfed are very similar things. You can talk for days, but you probably won’t hit the mark. The inability to describe something is proof that it is f-ing amazing.”

Dave Rastovich

“Riding inside the tube is a remarkable existential experience, a moment when life comes into perfect focus, when the immediacy and urgency of the moment is tempered by a feeling of stillness, by an awareness that one is connected to the entire fabric of the universe, riding inside an absolutely silent and solitary tunnel of water, a sense that the past is slipping behind your shoulder, the present is beneath your feet, and the future is just ahead, out of reach, represented by a spinning, hypnotic, tumbling tunnel of water just ahead.”

Shaun Tomson

“Surfing is simultaneously challenging, calming, healing, and humbling. It both magnifies and microscopically sharpens your focus. It reveals a strength from within that otherwise might remain hidden. And it offers a space for meditation and perspective. Each time you enter the water, you return to the shore — transformed.”

Lara Einzig

“What makes a surfer stylish is perfect technique, precise timing, and the intangible — a projection of personality, spirit, and confidence.”

Brad Gerlach

“Everything out there was disturbingly interlaced with everything else. Waves were the playing field. They were the goal. They were the object of your deepest desire and adoration. At the same time, they were your adversary, your nemesis, even your mortal enemy. The surf was your refuge, your happy hiding place, but it was a hostile wilderness — a dynamic, indifferent world.”

William Finnegan

“Surfing, as far as the clock is concerned, happens very, very quickly. Your longest experience riding a wave—your biggest waves—are probably limited somewhere in that 10- to 15-second range. Tops. But the best moments take place for a second or two with your prefrontal cortex out of the way —everything slows down and you really feel a oneness with this energy that is propelling you.”

Selema Masekela

Quotes about surfing and spirituality

For many surfers, surfing is not just a pastime or hobby but a grander presence — akin to religion. The following quotes show the depth of this relationship between surfers and surfing.

“When we call someone a waterman, maybe what we’re really saying is that that person is entirely and uncommonly devoted — to their core, in a subculture already rife with uncommon devotion — to a coastal life lived in its totality, to the raw, edge-of-nature wilderness experience that the ocean can offer, and to the possibility that such devotion can lead to a better existence not just as a person in the ocean, but as a person in search of a meaningful life.”

Brad Melekian

“One might rightly say surfriding is prayer of a higher order, that the sea is a beautiful church, the wave a silent sermon.”

Tom Blake

“It’s sometimes said that surfing is a religious practice more than it is a sport, and there is certainly something deeply private about it for many of us — not just the untranslatable personal experience of riding waves, but the fact that most surf sessions take place in utter obscurity, leaving no public record, no tangible mark on the world.”

William Finnegan

“It’s through the aperture of my connection to surfing that I feel and see and therefore believe in the world’s magic and transfigurative power, its divinity.”

Thad Ziolkowski

“You know, the best way to describe why people surf is how you feel every time you go into the ocean. It’s a soul-fix, regardless of what the surf is like. When you get out of the water, you peel off your wetsuit and dig your feet into the warm sand. The breeze plays over your skin like cool peppermint. Every pore sings. You’re refreshed spiritually and physically, whether you are at the local beach or on the other side of the planet. Sure, there’s a lot of factions in surfing, don’t get me wrong, but the overriding universal draw for all surfers is that addiction to being immersed in seawater. And slowly, over the years, it changes your perspective on life and what matters in it.”

Dave Parmenter

Quotes about surfing as a form of play

Regardless of how experienced (or not) at surfing you are, you can probably see from photos and videos that it looks like a lot of fun. You are not wrong. These surfers nail it with their words about surfing as a playful expression.

“The essence of surfing is a playful dance between two bodies of water: surfer and energized waveform. We align in speed and tempo and revel in the pursuit of the controlled slide, just as the ancients did. When we step onto dry sand, we have nothing tangible to show for our efforts. Just a sparkly eyed shimmer of delight.”

Lauren L. Hill

“When you ride a wave, it’s all reflex. It’s a creative, spontaneous act. It’s living about as free as you can live. It’s non-think. In that moment, you are in harmony with the heartbeat of the earth.”

Mickey Muñoz

“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

“There’s nothing I enjoy more than trimming high on a wave, standing as straight as I can, arms to the sky, soul connected, heart open, feeling the power of the sea.”

Leah Dawson

Quotes about surfing and the ocean

You can’t talk about surfing without discussing the medium in which it is best enjoyed — the wild and beautiful ocean. The following surf quotes highlight the power and indescribable beauty of the ocean.

“The ocean is in constant flux, and when you spend a lot of time in it you become like a floating bottle with a message inside; you know you’re going somewhere, sense you have a purpose, but you also know you’re at the mercy of the winds and currents, that surrendering may be your only good option.”

Jaimal Yogis

“One of the great lessons that you learn in the ocean is that while you are totally insignificant to the total mass, that you can survive in it by being part of it. Surfing gives you very elemental illustrations of broader truths by serving as a microcosm that we can grasp.”

Steve Pezman

“The ocean is fickle. There are no goals, hoops, finish lines. The wave is a fleeting, infinite blank canvas.”

Jamie Brisick

“Surfing is attached to the hem of a natural force so vast it can drain the power from a howling continent-sized storm, refine it, and deliver it ten days and 3,000 miles later in a smooth and elegant ocean-going processional. For a few seconds at a time we get to ride that current.”

Matt Warshaw

If you feel stoked by these surf quotes and are inspired to give learning to surf a go, head on over to see our surf and yoga camps and get planning!