110 Pirate Quotes From Both True and Fictional Swashbucklers

By Danielle Dahl

Writer, Ph.D Candidate and Inspirational quote curator

Published November 10, 2023

Pirates are intriguing figures, both in real life and in movies.

People are fascinated by them, and there are plenty of pirates quotes about people wanting to be a pirate when they grow up.

There are also pirate quotes about love and treasure.

We are all familiar with cliche pirate saying like “Ahoy, maties” and “Shiver me timbers,” but what are some other things historical pirates have actually said?

Hollywood pirates are also responsible for some of the funniest quotes about pirates.

Pirates of the Caribbean is an incredibly successful swashbuckler film series produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

It was so popular that it has also become one of Walt Disney’s beloved theme park attractions.

Disney’s obsession with pirates can also be seen in shows like Peter Pan and Jake and the Neverland Pirates, with Captain Hook being a prominent Disney villain.

Who could forget Once Upon a Time’s rendition of Captain Killian Hook! Were pirates really like this historically?

Keep reading through these pirate quotes to find out!

Don’t forget to also check out these Jack Sparrow quotes from everyone’s favorite pirate.

If you enjoy this article, check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily motivation.

If you want more motivational quotes, check out our motivational quotes category page.

Famous pirate quotes from authentic pirates

1. “I am a man of fortune and must seek my fortune.” – Captain Henry Avery

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2. “Pirates plunder the rich under the cover of their own courage.” – “Black” Sam Bellamy

3. “If there’s a man among ye, ye’ll come up and fight like the man ye are to be!” ― Mary Read

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4. “It is a blessing for a man to have a hand in determining his own fate.” ― Blackbeard

5. “Aye, tough mermaids are, the lot of them.” ― Blackbeard

6. “Damnation seize my soul if I give you quarters, or take any from you.” ― Blackbeard

7. “People are what are scary…people.” ― Blackbeard

8. “And what fate befalls mutineers?” ― Blackbeard

9. “Your words surround you like fog and make you hard to see.” ― Blackbeard

10. “Heaven, you fool? Did you ever year of any pirates going thither? Give me hell, it’s a merrier place.” ― Thomas Sutton

11. “Heaven, you fool? Did you ever year of any pirates going thither? Give me hell, it’s a merrier place: I’ll give Roberts a salute of 13 guns at entrance.” ― Thomas Sutton

12. “Under the leadership of a man you have all chosen to flee. We shall see how you prove yourselves under the hand of a woman.” ― Madame Ching

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Funny pirate quotes about treasure, looting, and booty

13. “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” ― Walt Disney

14. “Fate has brought us together again. Well, actually, buried treasure and pirates brought us together.” ― Kermit the Frog as Captain Abraham Smollet, Muppet Treasure Island

15. “When a pirate grows rich enough, they make him a prince.” ― George R R Martin

16. “It is when pirates count their booty that they become mere thieves.” ― William Bolitho

17. “Let’s jump on board, and cut them to pieces.” ― Blackbeard

18. “It’s funny that pirates were always going around searching for treasure, and they never realized that the real treasure was the fond memories they were creating.” ― Jack Handey

19. “If the pirate with a scarf had been more poetically minded, he’d have thought that her eyes were like a thousand emeralds, glittering in a far-off pirate treasure chest. But he wasn’t, so he just thought that she had really, really green eyes, a bit like seaweed.” ― Gideon Defoe

Romantic pirate quotes about love from these leading men

20. “You can be the gentleman and shoot the lady and starve to death yourself.” ― Captain Barbosa, Pirates of the Caribbean

21. “If you choose to lock your heart away, you’ll lose it for certain.” ― Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean

22. “Ah. Love. A dreadful bond.” ― Davy Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean

23. “I may be a pirate, but I bristle at the thought of a woman losing her heart. Unless it’s over me.” ― Captain Killian Hook, Once Upon a Time

24. “My heart will always belong to you.” ― Davy Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean

25. “Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.” ― Dread Pirate Roberts, The Princess Bride

26. “Actually, I quite fancy you from time to time. When you’re not yelling at me.” ― Captain Killian Hook, Once Upon a Time

Pirate quotes on life lessons

27. “A good dream, is better than a shitty reality.” ― Blackbeard

28. “Honestly, it’s the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they’re going to do something incredibly stupid.” ― Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean

29. “You got the makings of greatness in you, but you got to take the helm and chart your own course!” ― Long John Silver, Treasure Planet

30. “You’ll not forget what I done good, not any more than you’ll forget the bad.” ― Long John Silver, Treasure Island

31. “One soul is not equal to another.” ― Davy Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean

32. “The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem.” ― Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean

33. “In the dark, there is discovery, there is possibility, there is freedom in the dark once someone has illuminated it.” ― Captain Flint, Black Sails

34. “For certain, you have to be lost to find a place that can’t be found. Else ways, everyone would know where it was.” ― Captain Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean

35. “The truth is far too much fun.” ― Captain Hook, Hook

36. “Revenge may sate your being, but don’t misunderstand me, my dear. It’s an end, not a beginning.” ― Captain Killian Hook, Once Upon a Time

37. “Nobody will believe it’s possible until we show them.” ― Captain Flint, Black Sails

38. “I’ve just had a sublime vision. All the jagged parts of my life have come together to form a complete and mystical… whole.” ― Captain Hook, Hook

39. “It’s a pleasant thing to be young, and have ten toes, and you may lay to that.” ― Long John Silver, Treasure Island

40. “In an honest service there is thin commons, low wages, and hard labor; in this, plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power; and who would not balance creditor on this side, when all the hazard that is run for it, at worst, is only a sour look or two at choking. No, a merry life and a short one, shall be my motto.” ― Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts

More pirate quotes and sayings

41. “My youngest son has a very clear idea of what he wants to be when he grows up: he wants to be Indiana Jones, Batman, and Jack Sparrow. Yes, all three at the same time. So he basically wants to be an archaeologist who wears tights and fights crimes on pirate ships. That’s pretty cool, huh?” ― Rhys Darby

42. “When I was a child, I wanted to raise horses in Wyoming or be a cabin boy on a pirate ship.” ― Sadie Jones

43. “My biggest dream since I was a kid was to be the woman sneaking on the pirate ship dressed like a man, who was this great sword fighter, and the captain fell in love with her.” ― Maria Bello

44. “When I was about 5 I think, I desperately wanted to be a pirate and have the hat and everything.” ― Keira Knightley

45. “I was the kid who stared out the window. I fantasized myself on the deck of pirate ships – Cussler at the bridge.” ― Clive Cussler

46.” I have a ship’s bed, which totally plays to my obsession of, if I were not an actress, I would be a pirate.” ― Zosia Mamet

47. “I went to high school, and I started getting bullied because I was very weird. I mean, freshman year, I went to school in a pirate suit – I just didn’t care. I’m not like the cool girls – I’m the other girl. The one that’s basically a nerd, but proud of that.” ― Lele Pons

48. “When we were kids, we would just go walking: just walk in a direction and hope that you were gonna find a crashed alien spaceship or buried pirate’s treasure or something like that. You never did. You’d find, like, a coyote skeleton, something like that. That was the most exciting thing you’d ever find.” ― Jon Watts

49. “I’ve always wanted to play a coach in a movie, just to be the captain of anything in the pirate ship of my bathtub.” ― Brad Garrett

50. “It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the Navy.” ― Steve Jobs

Pirate quotes from actual pirates

51. “As to hanging, it is no great hardship. For were it not for that, every cowardly fellow would turn pirate and so unfit the sea, that men of courage must starve.” -Anne Bonny

52.”I plead my belly.” -Mary Read

53. “My Lord, it is a very hard sentence. For my part, I am the innocentest person of them all, only I have been sworn against by perjured persons.” ― William Kidd

54. “There is none of you but will hang me, I know, whenever you can clinch me within your power.” -Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts

55. “If you’ll turn sober, and mind your business, perhaps in time I may make you one of my Lieutenants, if not, here’s a boat alongside and you shall be set ashore.” -Captain Henry Avery

56. “I am sorry to see you here, but if you had fought like a man, you needn’t be hanged like a dog.” ― Anne Bonny

57. “I am a free prince, and I have as much authority to make war on the whole world, as he who has a hundred sail of ships at sea and an army of 100,000 men in the field.” -”Black” Sam Bellamy

58. “Yes, I do heartily repent. I repent I had not done more mischief; and that we did not cut the throats of them that took us, and I am extremely sorry that you aren’t hanged as well as we.” -Anonymous Pirate

59. “Hark ye, you Cocklyn and la Bouche, I find by strengthening you, I have put a rod into your hands to whip myself, but I am still able to deal with you both; but since we met in love, let us part in love, for I find that three of a trade can never agree.” -Howell Davis

60. “Damn ye, you are a sneaking puppy, and so are all those who will submit to be governed by laws which rich men have made for their own security.” -”Black” Sam Bellamy

More Funny Pirate Quotes and Sayings

61. “Loot is first and wimmen second. Because if ye have the first ye’ll have the second, but if ye have the second ye won’t have the first for long!” – Linda Meilink

62. “Keep calm and… drink a bottle of rum. Don’t ever let people that see what’s in your left hand, see what’s in the right…” – Lee Davies

63. “Ahoy! Let’s trouble the water!” – Bella De Pirate

64.”I feel underdressed without some pirate garb.” – Lisa Kessler

65. “There is nothing like the smell of cannon fire in the morning.” – Nyre Rose

66. “Life’s pretty good, and why wouldn’t it be? I’m a pirate, after all.” – Johnny Depp

67. “Fetch me another Cabin Boy…This one be split!” – Yellowbeard

68. “In politics and in trade, bruisers and pirates are of better promise than talkers and clerks.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

69. “Every generation welcomes the pirates from the last.” – Lawrence Lessig

70. “There’s very little admirable about being a pirate. There’s very little functional about a pirate. There’s very little real about a pirate.” – Will Oldham

Pirate Quotes That Will Make You Say Arrrgh

71. “Under the leadership of a man you have all chosen to flee. We shall see how you prove yourselves under the hand of a woman.” ― Ching Shih

72. “Damn you villains, who are you? And from whence came you?” ― Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach

73. “Damn my blood, I am sorry they won’t let you have your sloop again, for I scorn to do anyone a mischief, when it is not for my advantage.” ― Black Sam Bellamy

74. “Even pirates, before they attack another ship, hoist a black flag.” ― Bela Kiraly

75. “There is nothing so desperately monotonous as the sea, and I no longer wonder at the cruelty of pirates.” ― James Russell Lowel

76. “I think pirates, like astronauts, particularly for a boy, are always kind of worth thinking about.” ― Daniel Handler

77. “The pirate he will sink you with a kiss, he’ll steal your heart and sail away.” ― Joni Mitchell

78. “A pirate spreading misery and ruin over the face of the ocean.” ― Thomas Jefferson

79. “Merchant and pirate were for a long period one and the same person. Even today mercantile morality is really nothing but a refinement of piratical morality.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

80. “When I take something from a man – his ship, his money, his life – I don’t hide behind a clerk. I don’t hide behind the law. I don’t hide behind anything. I look him in his eye and I give him every chance to deny me.” — Captain Charles Vane

Thought Provoking Pirate Quotes

81. “Filming a pirate film is always good fun, with ships and indecent clothing.” ― Eric Idle

82. “I’m a big fan of pirates in general.” ― Mike Leach

83. “But I don’t want to be a pirate!” ― Jerry Seinfeld

84. “Pirates have always fascinated me.” ― Tanith Lee

85. “Pirates could happen to anyone.” ― Tom Stoppard

86. “If you want to get my attention, wear a pirate outfit.” ― Michelle Branch

87. “Parrots have gone a bit quiet since pirates have gone.” ― Karl Pilkington

88. “Clare seems so pleased with the idea of me as a pirate that she forgets that I am Stranger Danger.” ― Audrey Niffenegger

89. “I wondered how they would top the Pirates and skeletons and moonlight, because that’s a pretty cool concept.” ― Orlando Bloom

90. “You may wish me luck, or curse me for a damnable pirate, but do not look for me. I will be gone to parts beyond the sea.” ― Celia Rees

Pirate Quotes That Make You Want to See a Pirate

91. “Thoughts of being a pirate and stealing her away to my ship race across my mind. Although I’m not a pirate, and she’s not my captured princess.” — Simone Elkeles

92. “The Pirate is surrealism and so, in a curious way, is Father of the Bride.” — Vincente Minnelli

93. “I never thought I’d ever do a pirate bar, to be honest with you.” — Jon Taffer

94. “My fantasy football team got mixed up in another fantasy and now they’re stuck on a pirate ship with a chick in a Catwoman suit.” — Dana Gould

95. “One of my favourite messages about The Pirate Fairy is that the story is about appreciating your own talents.” — Christina Hendricks

96. “I don’t think you see a pirate with a parrot on his shoulder, for example. And even with the accents.” — Ray Stevenson

97. “Suddenly you’re like a pirate, you’re 65 years old and you’ve got an earring.” — Fred Willard

98. “It was like walking into a treasure trove of books, hoarded by pirate librarians.” — Pseudonymous Bosch

99. “[Pirates] are a victim of their own success. People have identified with pirates in a comic and caricature sense.” — Ray Stevenson

100. “I don’t really know much about pirates, or pirate culture. I’d be a contrarian pirate.” — Todd Barry

101. “One thing I hear from fans is, ‘My Dad’s got one foot in the grave, and he wants to see the Pirates win ‘ I’ve heard that more than anything. That’s our goal.” ― Clint Hurdle

102. “Leafing through Forbes or Fortune [magazine]s is like reading the operating manual of a strangely sanctimonious pirate ship.” ― Adam Gopnik

103. “The new Pirates! builds on that legacy delivering an even more powerful and fun experience to players… and is still unmatched in offering a blend of genres in one great game.” ― Sid Meier

104. “I’ve always been a huge fan of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies.” ― Abigail Breslin

105. “I have a pirate fetish-I just always thought eye patches were sexy. If you want to get my attention, wear a pirate outfit.” ― Michelle Branch

106. “The horizon has been defeated by the pirates of the new age.” ― Jack Johnson

107. “The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.” ― Gabe Newell

108. “It is, it is a glorious thing To be a Pirate King.” ― Walter Raleigh

109. “I would say probably Pirates of Silicon Valley just because I’m proud of the work, playing Gates.” ― Anthony Michael Hall

110. “He does kiss like a pirate though, I was able to re-affirm that.” ― Lora Leigh

What did you learn from these pirate quotes?

Some of the most notorious historical pirates include people like Blackbeard (Edward Teach), Anne Bonny, Calico Jack Rackham, and Black Sam (Jack Bellamy).

What was being a real pirate like, though? Did it look like all our fictional adaptions?

Real pirates were indeed ruthless and menacing thieves.

It was rare for authentic pirates to bury their treasure.

They much preferred to spend it in ports on booze and women.

They were more into the hedonistic pleasures of right now than wealth planning for the future. Their business was a dangerous and dastardly one, and they knew it.

There are so many interesting legends about real pirates, like how Anne Bonny snuck aboard Calico Jack’s ship dressed as a man.

The legend goes they spared her from a death sentence when the crew was captured because she was pregnant with Calico Jack’s child.

Another thing that seems to be a thing of legends, is how often pirates made people walk the plank.

In reality, their preferred method of punishment was ‘keel-hauling.’

This involved tying the victim up and then dragging them under their ship.

Sometimes, the person was drug quickly, usually leading to serious injury from debris that gathered around the ship.