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Herman Melville

Herman Melville Quotes

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Famous Herman Melville Quotes

“Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream. There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries--stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region. Should you ever be athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor. Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever.”

IfsKnowsMenShouldTryingHappensWaterPathMeditationMagicFeetPleaseTenRainRiversLegsExperimentsDesertStreamsRegionsCarrieProfessorsPoolMetaphysicalAbsentGreat AmericanReverieRivers And WaterCaravansSea WaterAbsent MindedTap Water
Book:Annotated Moby Dick or, the Whale with English Grammar Exercises: by Herman Melville (Author), Robert Powell (Editor)
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“Methinks we have hugely mistaken this matter of Life and Death. Methinks that what they call my shadow here on earth is my true substance. Methinks that in looking at things spiritual, we are too much like oysters observing the sun through the water, and thinking that thick water the thinnest of air. Me thinks my body is but the lees of my better being. In fact take my body who will, take it I say, it is not me.”

ThinkingMatterFactsBodyEarthSpiritualWaterSunToo MuchAirShadowSubstanceLife And DeathThickMistakenObservingOystersEpic Poems
Book:Moby Dick
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“Where lies the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more? In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary? Where is the foundling’s father hidden? Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die in bearing them: the secret of our paternity lies in their grave, and we must there to learn it.”

WorldSoulLyingMotherDiesFatherSecretFinalsGravesSailWearyHarborsOrphan
Book:Moby Dick (World Classics, Unabridged)
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“There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar.”

IfsInspirationalStillsSoulSpaceHigherMountainBirdMadnessInvisibleLowestWoeSoarEaglesSunnyGorges
Book:Moby-Dick
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“Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm? But if the great sun move not of himself; but is an errand-boy in heaven; nor one single star can revolve, but by some invisible power; how then can this one small heart beat; this one small brain think thoughts; unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I.”

IfsThinkingHeartDoeMovingHeavenStarsBrainBoysPowerSunArmsBeatsInvisibleLiftsHeart BeatErrandsAhab
Book:Moby Dick (World Classics, Unabridged)
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“truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself. If you flatter yourself that you are all over comfortable, and have been so a long time, then you cannot be said to be comfortable any more.”

IfsWorldLongHas BeensSaidEnjoyQualityThis WorldColdComfortableLong TimeWarmthContrastSmall Parts
Book:Moby Dick, the Whale: Easyread Comfort Edition
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“Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.”

PeopleI CanSoulHandsStrongMoralPrinciplesGrowingSeaStreetsDepressionMouthsAccountsMy SoulHatsFuneralSailSailingSailorNovemberGrimKnockingCoffinsDampMoral PrinciplesNauticalSailing And The SeaWarehouseBoats And SailingPausingUpper HandHats Off
Book:Moby-Dick: A Picture Voyage : an Abridged and Illustrated Edition of the Original Classic
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“I have no objection to any person's religion, be it what it may, so long as that person does not kill or insult any other person, because that other person don't believe it also. But when a man's religion becomes really frantic; when it is a positive torment to him; and, in fine, makes this earth of ours an uncomfortable inn to lodge in; then I think it high time to take that individual aside and argue the point with him.”

ThinkingMenBelieveMayPersonsLongDoeEarthIndividualFineDon't BelieveArguingUncomfortableInsultTormentObjectionsFranticInnsLodges
Author:Herman Melville
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“If I had been downright honest with myself, I would have seen very plainly in my heart that I did but half fancy being committed this way to so long a voyage, without once laying my eyes on the man who was to be the absolute dictator of it, so soon as the ship sailed out upon the open sea. But when a man suspects any wrong, it sometimes happens that if he be already involved in the matter, he insensibly strives to cover up his suspicions even from himself. And much this way it was with me. I said nothing, and tried to think nothing.”

IfsThinkingMenWayHeartLongSaidSometimesMatterHappensEyeHalfSeaHonestMy HeartInvolvedAbsolutesStriveCommittedShipsFancySuspectsDictatorSuspicionStrifeVoyagesCover Ups
Book:Moby-Dick
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“Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure..... Consider all this; and then turn to this green, gentle , and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself?”

EarthTurnsWaterSeaLandStrangeCreaturesGreenGentleAnalogiesDocileAzure
Book:Moby Dick (Illustrated & Annotated Edition)
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“So, when on one side you hoist in Locke's head, you go over that way; but now, on the other side, hoist in Kant's and you come back again; but in very poor plight. Thus, some minds for ever keep trimming boat. Oh, ye foolish! throw all these thunder-heads overboard, and then you will float light and right.”

WayMindLightSidesPoorFoolishBoatThunderFloatsBack AgainPlightOverboardTrimming
Book:Moby Dick, Or The Whale: Volume 6, Scholarly Edition
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“All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a philosopher, though seated in the whale-boat, you would not at heart feel one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with a poker, and not a harpoon, by your side.”

IfsMenFeelsHeartTurnsSidesRealizingBornLinesFireSilentRoundsCaughtPhilosopherTerrorBoatEveningMortalsNecksSubtlePerilWhalesYour Side
Book:Moby-Dick: World Classics
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“It does seem to me, that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong individual vitality, and the rare virtue of thick walls, and the rare virtue of interior spaciousness. Oh, man! admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter's, and like the great whale, retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own.”

MenWorldDoeSeemsIndividualStrongVirtueBloodThis WorldWallModelsSeasonsWarmAdmireIcePeterThickInteriorsVitalityThyselfTemperatureFluidWhalesBeing CoolDomesEquatorSpaciousnessSt PeterStrong Individuals
Book:Moby Dick
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“How it is I know not; but there is no place like a bed for confidential disclosures between friends. Man and wife, they say, there open the very bottom of their souls to each other; and some old couples often lie and chat over old times till nearly morning. Thus, then, in our hearts' honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg - a cosy, loving pair.”

KnowsMenHeartSoulLyingMorningWifeCoupleBedLaysBottomPairsDisclosureHoneymoonOld TimeConfidentialCosyOld Couple
Book:Moby-Dick
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