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Herman Melville

Herman Melville Quotes

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Famous Herman Melville Quotes

“In placid hours well-pleased we dream Of many a brave unbodied scheme. But form to lend, pulsed life create, What unlike things must meet and mate: A flame to melt--a wind to freeze; Sad patience--joyous energies; Humility--yet pride and scorn; Instinct and study; love and hate; Audacity--reverence. These must mate, And fuse with Jacob's mystic heart, To wrestle with the angel--Art.”

WellsHeartArtDreamFormHateEnergyHoursStudyHumilityWindPrideAngelBraveInstinctFlamesMatesReverenceSchemesScornJoyousMysticFreezeLove And HateJacobAudacityFusePlacid
Book:Published Poems: The Writings of Herman Melville
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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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“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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“For my part I love sleepy fellows, and the more ignorant the better. Damn your wide-awake and knowing chaps. As for sleepiness, itis one of the noblest qualities of humanity. There is something sociable about it, too. Think of those sensible & sociable millions of good fellows all taking a good long friendly snooze together, under the sod--no quarrels, no imaginary grievances, no envies, heart-burnings, & thinking how much better that other chap is off--none of this: but all equally free-&-easy, they sleep away & reel off their nine knots an hour, in perfect amity.”

ThinkingHeartLongTogetherDeathHumanityEasyHoursSleepPerfectQualityMillionsKnowingFellowsWideEnvyNineIgnorantBurningDamnAwakeFriendlySensibleImaginaryQuarrelsKnotsGrievanceSleepyChapsSociableWide AwakeSleepinessSodAmityGood Long
Author:Herman Melville
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“The pleasure of leaving home, care-free, with no concern but to enjoy, has also as a pendant the pleasure of coming back to the old hearthstone, the home to which, however traveled, the heart still fondly turns, ignoring the burden of its anxieties and cares.”

HeartStillsHomeCareTurnsEnjoyPleasureTravelAnxietyConcernLeavingBurdenTraveledComing BackLeaving HomePendants
Book:Piazza Tales and Other Prose Pieces, 1839-1860: Volume Nine, Scholarly Edition
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“Twelve o'clock! It is the natural centre, key-stone, and very heart of the day. At that hour, the sun has arrived at the top of his hill; and as he seems to hang poised there a while, before coming down on the other side, it is but reasonable to suppose that he is then stopping to dine; setting an eminent example to all mankind.”

HeartSeemsSidesHoursNaturalSunMankindExampleKeysStonesSettingSettingsHillsClockReasonableTwelveCentreStoppingNoonDine
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Herman Melville (Illustrated)
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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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“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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“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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“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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“So, cutting the lashing of the waterproof match keg, after many failures Starbuck contrived to ignite the lamp in the lantern; then stretching it on a waif pole, handed it to Queequeg as the standard-bearer of this forlorn hope. There, then, he sat, holding up that imbecile candle in the heart of that almighty forlornness. There, then, he sat, the sign and symbol of a man without faith, hopelessly holding up hope in the midst of despair.”

MenHeartHopeCuttingDespairStandardsSymbolsSatMidstCandleAlmightyLampsStretchingStarbucksIgniteImbecilesLanternsForlornKegsSigns And SymbolsForlorn Hope
Book:Moby Dick
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