"To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm
foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine
traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at
sea... cruising, it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the
wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are
contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until
your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.
"I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it."
What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the
cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we
fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it
our lives are gone. What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of
food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form
of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's
all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by
our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time
payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our
attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, the
dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of
patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the
answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy
of life?"

Sterling Hayden