Robin Knox-Johnston > Quotes

“My mother, when asked for her opinion of the voyage before I sailed, had replied that she considered it ‘totally irresponsible’ and on this Christmas Day I began to think she was right. I was sailing round the world simply because I bloody well wanted to – and, I realized, I was thoroughly enjoying myself.”
― Robin Knox-Johnston, A World of My Own: The First Ever Non-stop Solo Round the World Voyage

“Of course, for a seaman, next to being actually at sea, the greatest enjoyment comes from preparing the boat for a voyage.”
― Robin Knox-Johnston, A World of My Own: The First Ever Non-stop Solo Round the World Voyage

“Still, whatever you do in life there are always people who take a delight in telling you you’re wrong, who raise a difficulty for every solution; happily this sort of advice more often than not comes from those”
― Robin Knox-Johnston, A World of My Own: The First Ever Non-stop Solo Round the World Voyage

“There is an excellent prayer by John Davis, the Elizabethan seaman who, with his crew reduced to fifteen men from seventy-three, was beaten back three times into Magellan’s Strait: ‘May it please his Divine Majesty that we may rather proceed than otherwise; or, if it be his will, that our mortal being shall now take an end, I rather desire that it may be in proceeding than in returning’ . . . And I think I have troubles! But do appreciate the ‘proceeding than in returning’ part. What a man, and I cannot help thinking that my complaint about the wind seems absurd when you consider what he had to put up with – without complaining!”
― Robin Knox-Johnston, A World of My Own: The First Ever Non-stop Solo Round the World Voyage