Herman Melville Quotes

Better be an old maid, a woman with herself as a husband, than the wife of a fool; and Solomon more than hints that all men are fools; and every wise man knows himself to be one.

If you can get nothing better out of the world, get a good dinner out of it, at least.

In a multitude of acquaintances is less security, than in one faithful friend.

Everyone knows that in most people's estimation, to do anything cooly is to do it genteelly.

At sea a fellow comes out. Salt water is like wine, in that respect.

When the passage "All men are born free and equal," when that passage was being written were not some of the signers legalised owners of slaves?

As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.

Are there no Moravians in the Moon, that not a missionary has yet visited this poor pagan planet of ours, to civilise civilisation and christianise Christendom?

There is no dignity in wickedness, whether in purple or rags; and hell is a democracy of devils, where all are equals.

Of all nature's animated kingdoms, fish are the most unchristian, inhospitable, heartless, and cold-blooded of creatures.

There is one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath.

Aid my disillusionment, my friend!

Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.

To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be that have tried it.

An intense copper calm, like a universal yellow lotus, was more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea.

Hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple dumpling.

Beneath those stars is a universe of gliding monsters.

Benevolent desires, after passing a certain point, can not undertake their own fulfillment without incurring the risk of evils beyond those sought to be remedied.

Yet habit - strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?

Do not presume, well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed, to criticize the poor

Niggards are oftentimes neat.

Ladies are like creeds; if you cannot speak well of them, say nothing.

To be hated cordially, is only a left-handed compliment.

The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails whereon my soul is grooved to run

Whenever we discover a dislike in us, toward any one, we should ever be a little suspicious of ourselves.

My body is but the lees of my better being.

Only the man who says no is free

Stay true to the dreams of thy youth.

It is impossible to talk or to write without apparently throwing oneself helplessly open.

The only true infidelity is for a live man to vote himself dead.

All wars are boyish, and are fought by boys, The champions and enthusiasts of the state: Turbid ardors and vain joys Not barrenly abate-- Stimulants to the power mature, Preparatives of fate.

It is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realise the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life.

Whatever my fate, I'll go to it laughing.

The eyes are the gateway to the soul.

I do not think I have any uncharitable prejudice against the rattlesnake, still, I should not like to be one.

Truth is ever incoherent, and when the big hearts strike together, the concussion is a little stunning.

Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale... from hell's heart I stab at thee.

All the world over, the picturesque yields to the pocketesque.

Failure is the true test of greatness

Honor lies in the mane of a horse.

Truth is in things, and not in words.

The sailor is frankness, the landsman is finesse. Life is not a game with the sailor, demanding the long head

For whatever is truly wondrous and fearful in man, never yet was put into words or books.

He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great.

I try all things, I achieve what I can.

To the last, I grapple with thee; From Hell's heart, I stab at thee; For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee.

There are two places in the world where men can most effectively disappear - the city of London and the South Seas.

Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges.

There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes his whole universe for a vast practical joke.

There is nothing so slipperily alluring as sadness; we become sad in the first place by having nothing stirring to do; we continue in it, because we have found a snug sofa at last.