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Herman Melville

Herman Melville Quotes

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Famous Herman Melville Quotes

“Marvel not that having been made acquainted with the young sailor's essential innocence (an irruption of heretic thought hard to suppress) the worthy man lifted not a finger to avert the doom of such a martyr to martial discipline. So to do would not only have been as idle as invoking the desert, but would also have been an audacious transgression of the bounds of his function, one as exactly prescribed to him by military law as that of the boatswain or any other naval officer. Bluntly put, a chaplain is the minister of the Prince of Peace serving in 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.”

WarReligionCompassionPowerViolenceSocietyMilitarismHypocrisy Of Religion
Book:Billy Budd and Other Stories
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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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“In our man-of-war world, Life comes in at one gangway and Death goes overboard at the other. Under the man-of-war scourge, cursesmix with tears; and the sigh and the sob furnish the bass to the shrill octave of those who laugh to drown buried griefs of their own.”

MenWorldWarGriefLaughingTearsTragedyBuriedSighBassScourgeOverboardWorld Life
Book:THE TALES OF THE SEA - Premium Collection: 10 Maritime Novels & Adventure Classics in One Volume: Moby-Dick, Typee, Omoo, Mardi, Redburn, White-Jacket, Israel Potter, Billy Budd, Sailor, Benito Cereno & The Encantadas (Based on the Author's Experiences on a Cargo Ship & US Navy Service)
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“As a man-of-war that sails through the sea, so this earth that sails through the air. We mortals are all on board a fast-sailing,never-sinking world-frigate, of which God was the shipwright; and she is but one craft in a Milky-Way fleet, of which God is the Lord High Admiral.”

MenWorldWayWarEarthLordAirSeaCraftsMortalsBoardsSailSailingSinkingMilky WayAdmiral
Book:White-jacket; Or, The World in the Man-of-war
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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 also the devilish brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began.”

WorldWarWaterSeaShapesCreaturesEternalUniversalSpeciesTribesPreyBrillianceSharksCarrying OnCannibalismDevilishAzureDaintyRemorseless
Book:Annotated Moby Dick or, the Whale with English Grammar Exercises: by Herman Melville (Author), Robert Powell (Editor)
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“In glades they meet skull after skull Where pine cones lay-the rusted gun, Green shoes full of bones, the mouldering coat And cuddled up skeleton; And scores of such. Some start as in dreams, And comrades lost bemoan; By the edge of those wilds Stonewall had charged- But the year and the Man were gone.”

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Book:The Poems of Herman Melville
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