Quotes from Herman Melville

that one most perilous and long voyage ended, only begins a second; and a second ended, only begins a third, and so on, for ever and for aye. Such is the endlessness, yea, the intolerableness of all earthly effort.

I will have no man in my boat, said Starbuck, who is not afraid of a whale. By this, he seemed to mean, not only that the most reliable and useful courage was that which arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril, but that an utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward. (moby dick chap 26 p112)

Even though white is often associated with things, that are pleasant and pure, there is a peculiar emptiness about the color white. It is the emptiness of the white that is more disturbing, than even the bloodiness of red.

My body is but the lees of my better being.

and tell him to paint me a sign, with-no suicides permitted here, and no smoking in the parlor; might as well kill both birds at once.

At present I would prefer not to be a little reasonable,' was his mildly cadaverous reply.

and yet a child's utter innocence is but its blank ignorance, and the innocence more or less wanes as intelligence waxes.

Thou saw'st the locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship; heart to heart they sank beneath the exulting wave; true to each other, when heaven seemed false to them.

Preferiría no hacerlo

Yea, foolish mortals, Noah's flood is not yet subsided; two thirds of the fair world it yet covers.

That immaculate manliness we feel within ourselves, so far within us, that it remains intact though all the outer character seem gone; bleeds with keenest anguish at the undraped spectacle of a valor-ruined man.

Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed.

Doesn't the devil live forever; who ever heard that the devil was dead? Did you ever see any person wearing mourning for the devil?

The sun hides not the ocean, which is the dark side of this earth, and which is two thirds of this earth. So, therefore, that mortal man who hath more of joy than sorrow in him, that mortal man cannot be true-- not true, or undeveloped. With books the same. The truest of all men was the Man of Sorrows, and the truest of all books is Solomon's, and Ecclesiastes is the fine hammered steel of woe.

When beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean's skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not willingly remember that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang.

Queequeg was a native of Kokovoko, an island far away to the West and South. It is not down in any map; true places never are.

And here, shipmates, is true and faithful repentance; not clamorous for pardon, but grateful for punishment.

Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli! deliriously howled Ahab, as the malignant iron scorchingly devoured the baptismal blood.

Were this world an endless plain, and by sailing eastward we could for ever reach new distances, and discover sights more sweet and strange than any Cyclades or Islands of King Solomon, then there were promise in the voyage. But in pursuit of those far mysteries we dream of, or in tormented chase of the demon phantom that, some time or other, swims before all human hearts; while chasing such over this round globe, they either lead us on in barren mazes or midway leave us whelmed.

what are the comprehensible terrors of man compared with the interlinked terrors and wonders of God!

So, when on one side you hoist in Locke's head, you go over that way; but now, on the other side, hoist in Kant's and you come back again; but in very poor plight. Thus, some minds for ever keep trimming boat. Oh, ye foolish! throw all these thunder-heads overboard, and then you will float light and right.

Madman! Look through my eyes if thou hast none of thine own.

There is all the different in the world between paying and being paid.

But thus it often is, that the constant friction of illiberal minds wears out at last the best resolves of the more generous.