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Herman Melville

Herman Melville Quotes

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Famous Herman Melville Quotes

“And so, through all the thick mists of the dim doubts in my mind, divine intuitions now and then shoot, enkindling my fog with a heavenly ray. And for this I thank God; for all have doubts; many deny; but doubts or denials, few along with them, have intuitions. Doubts of all things earthly, and intuitions of some things heavenly; this combination makes neither believer nor infidel, but makes a man who regards them both with equal eye.”

MenMindEyeDoubtDivineEqualAll ThingsRegardDenyIntuitionBelieverDenialCombinationHeavenlyRaysThank GodThickNow And ThenFogMistInfidel
Book:Moby-Dick
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“Nature has not implanted any power in man that was not meant to be exercised at times, though too often our powers have been abused. The privilege, inborn and inalienable, that every man has of dying himself, and inflicting death upon another, was not given to us without a purpose. These are the last resources of an insulted and unendurable existence.”

MenHas BeensLastsPurposeGivenExistenceDyingResourcesPrivilegeEvery ManMeant To BeInsultedUnendurableWere Not Meant To Be
Book:White-jacket: or, The world in a man-of-war
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“What we take to be our strongest tower of delight, only stands at the caprice of the minutest event the falling of a leaf, the hearing of a voice, or the receipt of one little bit of paper scratched over with a few small characters by a sharpened feather.”

LittlesCharacterFallBitsVoiceEventsPaperLittle BitDelightHearingStrongestTowersLeafsFeathersCapriceReceipts
Book:Pierre, Or The Ambiguities: Volume Seven, Scholarly Edition
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“In this world of lies, Truth is forced to fly like a scared white doe in the woodlands; and only by cunning glimpses will she reveal herself, as in Shakespeare and other masters of the great Art of Telling the Truth, even though it be covertly, and by snatches.”

WorldDoeArtLyingWhiteThis WorldMastersTruth IsScaredTelling The TruthGlimpseGreat ArtCunningWoodlandLies Truth
Book:Moby Dick, Or The Whale: Volume 6, Scholarly Edition
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“Erie, and Ontario, and Huron, and Superior, and Michigan possess an ocean-like expansiveness, with many of the ocean's noblest traits... they are swept by Borean and dismasting blasts as direful as any that lash the salted wave; they know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew.”

KnowsLandOceanSightWaveSuperiorsShipsTraitsCrewMidnightBlastMichiganLashesShipwreckOntarioExpansiveness
Book:Moby Dick the Whale Volume I EasyRead Ed
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“But are sailors, frequenters of fiddlers' greens, without vices? No; but less often than with landsmen do their vices, so called, partake of crookedness of heart, seeming less to proceed from viciousness than exuberance of vitality after long constraint: frank manifestations in accordance with natural law.”

HeartLongLawNaturalVicesManifestationFrankVitalityConstraintsSailorSeemingNatural LawExuberanceFiddlers
Book:Billy Budd, Sailor and Selected Tales
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“From without, no wonderful effect is wrought within ourselves, unless some interior, responding wonder meets it. That the starry vault shall surcharge the heart with all rapturous marvelings, is only because we ourselves are greater miracles, and superber trophies than all the stars in universal space.”

HeartStarsSpaceWonderGreaterWonderfulEffectsUniversalMiracleUnityInteriorsRespondingTrophiesVaultsMarveling
Book:Pierre; Or, The Ambiguities
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“The reason the mass of men fear God, and at bottom dislike Him, is because they rather distrust His heart, and fancy Him all brain like a watch. (You perceive I employ a capital initial in the pronoun referring to the Deity; don't you think there is a slight dash of flunkeyism in that usage?).”

ThinkingMenHeartReasonBrainWatchesAtheismMassBottomPerceiveFancyDislikeDistrustInitialsDeitiesReferringUsageFear GodPronouns
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Herman Melville (Illustrated)
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“We incline to think that God cannot explain His own secrets and that He would like a little information upon certain points Himself. We mortals astonish Him as much as He us. But it is this Being of the matter; there lies the knot with which we choke ourselves. As soon as you say Me, a God, a Nature, so soon you jump off from your stool and hang from the beam. Yes, that word is the hangman. Take God out of the dictionary, and you would have Him in the street.”

ThinkingLittlesMatterLyingCertainSecretAtheismStreetsInformationMortalsDictionaryChokeBeamKnotsInclineStoolsHangman
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Herman Melville (Illustrated)
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“There is no figure more common in scripture, and none more beautiful, than that by which Christ is likened unto light. Incomprehensible in its nature, itself the first visible, and that by which all things are seen, light represents to us Christ. Whose generation none can declare, but Who must shine upon us ere we can know aught aright, whether of things Divine or human.”

KnowsFirstsHumansLightBeautifulChristCommonGenerationsFiguresDivineAll ThingsShiningScriptureVisibleEpiphany
Author:Herman Melville
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“But when that smoking chowder came in, the mystery was delightfully explained. Oh! sweet friends, hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuits and salted pork cut up into little flakes! the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt... we dispatched it with great expedition.”

LittlesMadeWholeCuttingMysteryFoodSweetBiggerCookingShipsSmokingCulinaryNutsSaltPorkPeppersExpeditionsBiscuitsJuicyFlakesClamsSweet Friend
Book:MOBY-DICK (WITH NOTES)(BIOGRAPHY)(ILLUSTRATED): OR, THE WHALE
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“Passion, and passion in its profoundest, is not a thing demanding a palatial stage whereon to play its part. Down among the groundlings, among the beggars and rakers of the garbage, profound passion is enacted. And the circumstances that provoke it, however trivial or mean, are no measure of its power. In the present instance the stage is a scrubbed gun deck, and one of the external provocations a man-of-war's-man's spilled soup.”

MenMeanWarPlayPassionStageCircumstancesGunProfoundInstanceProvokingSoupGarbageBeggarDeckProvocation
Book:Billy Budd, Bartleby, and Other Stories
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“Let us pray that the great historic tragedy of our time may not have been enacted without instructing our whole beloved country through terror and pity; and may fulfillment verify in the end those expectations which kindle the bards of Progress and Humanity.”

MayHas BeensWarEndsCountryWholeHumanityProgressPrayingExpectationsTragedyTerrorPityFulfillmentBelovedOur TimeHistoricKindlesVerifyBardsBeloved Country
Book:Battle-pieces and aspects of the war [poems].
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“A chaplain is the minister of the Prince of Peace serving the host of the God of War--Mars. As such, he is as incongruous as a musket would be on the altar at Christmas. Why, then, is he there? Because he indirectly subserves the purpose attested by the cannon; because too he lends the sanction of the religion of the meek to that which practically is the abrogation of everything but brute Force.”

WarWould BePurposeForceChristianityMinistersServingHostMarsAltarsBrutesSanctionsMeekCannonsBrute ForceChaplainsPrince Of PeaceGod Of War
Book:Billy Budd, Sailor, and Other Stories
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“Standing navies, as well as standing armies, serve to keep alive the spirit of war even in the meek heart of peace. In its very embers and smoulderings, they nourish that fatal fire, and half-pay officers, as the priests of Mars, yet guard the temple, though no god be there.”

WellsHeartWarSpiritPayHalfFireAliveStandingArmyTemplesPriestsOfficersMarsNavyMeekEmbersGod Is There
Book:White-jacket; Or, The World in the Man-of-war
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