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Herman Melville

Herman Melville Quotes

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Famous Herman Melville Quotes

“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.”

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Author:Herman Melville
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“It is well known, that the best productions of the best human intellects, are generally regarded by those intellects as mere immature freshman exercises, wholly worthless in themselves, except as initiatives for entering the great University of God after death.”

HumansWellsLiteratureKnownCreativityExerciseMereUniversityProductionsIntellectInitiativeWell KnownEnteringWorthlessAfter DeathImmatureFreshman
Book:Pierre: Or, the Ambiguities
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“He, who, in view of its inconsistencies, says of human nature the same that, in view of its contrasts, is said of the divine nature, that it is past finding out, thereby evinces a better appreciation of it than he who, by always representing it in a clear light, leaves it to be inferred that he clearly knows all about it.”

KnowsHumansSaidLightPastViewsClearHuman NatureDivineFindingsAppreciationContrastRepresentingInconsistencyDivine Nature
Book:The Confidence-man: His Masquerade
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“The earliest instinct of the child, and the ripest experience of age, unite in affirming simplicity to be the truest and profoundest part for man. Likewise this simplicity is so universal and all-containing as a rule for human life, that the subtlest bad man, and the purest good man, as well as the profoundest wise man, do all alike present it on that side which they socially turn to the inquisitive and unscrupulous world.”

MenWorldHumansWellsChildrenAgeTurnsSidesWiseUniversalInstinctSimplicityHuman LifeGood ManTruestContainingBad ManAffirmingInquisitive
Book:Pierre or The Ambiguities
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“An indiscriminate distrust of human nature is the worst consequence of a miserable condition, whether brought about by innocence or guilt. And though want of suspicion more than want of sense, sometimes leads a man into harm; yet too much suspicion is as bad as too little sense.”

MenWantHumansLittlesSometimesToo MuchWorstConditionsHuman NatureConsequenceGuiltHarmMiserableInnocenceSuspicionDistrust
Book:Israel Potter: Works of Melville
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