“The sea had jeeringly kept his finite body up, but drowned the infinite of his soul. Not drowned entirely, though. Rather carried down alive to wondrous depths, where strange shapes of the unwarped primal world glided to and fro before his passive eyes; and the miser-merman, Wisdom, revealed his hoarded heaps; and among the joyous, heartless, ever-juvenile eternities, Pip saw the multitudinous, God-omnipresent, coral insects, that out of the firmament of waters heaved the colossal orbs. He saw God’s foot upon the treadle of the loom, and spoke it; and therefore his shipmates called him mad. So man’s insanity is heaven’s sense; and wandering from all mortal reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which, to reason, is absurd and frantic; and weal or woe, feels then uncompromised, indifferent as his God.”
Quote by Herman Melville
Work
Moby-Dick or, The Whale
Browse quotes and source details for this work. more
Author
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was a renowned 19th-century American novelist known for his profound psychological descriptions and unique literary style. His masterpiece, 'Moby-Dick', is considered a classic of American literature. more
You May Also Like
“There are no tragedies in life, only violent coup d’etats on the state of irrational optimism”
“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the rain.”
Source: The New Stations of the Cross: The Way of the Cross According to Scripture
“Dear Optimism, nice to see you. I've got an extra room, how about you stay for a while.”
“I didn't fail the test. I just found 100 different ways to do it wrong.”
“Know what an optimist is, Major? A pessimist without much experience.”
Source: The Embassy House