Heaven have mercy on us all – Presbyterians and Pagans alike – for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending.
HERMAN MELVILLEThere is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself.
More Herman Melville Quotes
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To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.
HERMAN MELVILLE -
All things that God would have us do are hard for us to do–remember that–and hence, he oftener commands us than endeavours to persuade.
HERMAN MELVILLE -
Hope is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting her eternity.
HERMAN MELVILLE -
Do not presume, well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed, to criticize the poor
HERMAN MELVILLE -
No philosophers so thoroughly comprehend us as dogs and horses.
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Genius, all over the world, stands hand in hand, and one shock of recognition runs the whole circle round.
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A thing may be incredible and still be true; sometimes it is incredible because it is true.
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Is there some principal of nature which states that we never know the quality of what we have until it is gone?
HERMAN MELVILLE -
It is not down in any map; true places never are.
HERMAN MELVILLE -
What is an atheist, but one who does not, or will not, see in the universe a ruling principle of love; and what a misanthrope, but one who does not, or will not, see in man a ruling principle of kindness?
HERMAN MELVILLE -
I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.
HERMAN MELVILLE -
The Past is the textbook of tyrants; the Future the Bible of the Free. Those who are solely governed by the Past stand like Lot’s wife, crystallized in the act of looking backward, and forever incapable of looking before.
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Friendship at first sight, like love at first sight, is said to be the only truth.
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If you can get nothing better out of the world, get a good dinner out of it, at least.
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You cannot spill a drop of American blood without spilling the blood of the whole world…. We are not a nation, so much as a world.
HERMAN MELVILLE