Herman Melville Quotes - Page 5

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• People think that if a man has undergone any hardship, he should have a reward; but for my part, if I have done the hardest possible day's work, and then come to sit down in a corner and eat my supper comfortably -why, then I don't think I deserve any reward for my hard day's work -for am I not now at peace? Is not my supper good?

  Herman Melville

  Peace, Food, Men

  Herman Melville (1967). “Moby-Dick: An authoritative text”, W. W. Norton & Company

  13 Copy quote

• If you begin the day with a laugh, you may, nevertheless, end it with a sob and a sigh.

  Herman Melville

  Laughing, May, Pessimism

  Herman Melville (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Herman Melville (Illustrated)”, p.1524, Delphi Classics

  5 Copy quote

• Think not, is my eleventh commandment; and sleep when you can, is my twelfth.

  Herman Melville

  Sleep, Thinking, Commandments

  Herman Melville (2016). “Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale”, p.129, Cosimo, Inc.

  6 Copy quote

• Never joke at funerals, or during business transactions.

  Herman Melville

  Funeral, Transactions, Jokes

  Herman Melville (2016). “Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile and Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel R. Potter”, p.51, Courier Dover Publications

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• Mystery is in the morning, and mystery in the night, and the beauty of mystery is everywhere; but still the plain truth remains, that mouth and purse must be filled.

  Herman Melville

  Morning, Night, Purses

  Herman Melville (1988). “The Confidence-man: His Masquerade”, p.198, Northwestern University Press

  4 Copy quote

• Wag the world how it will, Leaves must be green in Spring.

  Herman Melville

  Spring, World, Green

  Herman Melville (1866). “Battle-pieces and aspects of the war [poems].”, p.68

  4 Copy quote

• A man of true science... thinks, that by mouthing hard words, he proves that he understands hard things.

  Herman Melville

  Communication, Men, Thinking

  "White-Jacket" by Herman Melville, (Ch. 64), 1850.

  20 Copy quote

• 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 Melville

  Heaven, Needs, Pagan

  Herman Melville (1892). “Moby Dick”, p.82

  24 Copy quote

• 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

  Atheist, Kindness, Men

  Herman Melville (1857). “The Confidence-man: His Masquerade”, p.220

  35 Copy quote

• Let us waive that agitated national topic, as to whether such multitudes of foreign poor should be landed on our American shores;let us waive it, with the one only thought, that if they can get here, they have God's right to come.

  Herman Melville

  Topics, Poor, Should

  Herman Melville (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Herman Melville (Illustrated)”, p.1380, Delphi Classics

  4 Copy quote

• An utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward.

  Herman Melville

  Happiness, Success, Fear

  Herman Melville (2008). “Moby-Dick”, p.126, Velvet Element Books

  26 Copy quote

• We may have civilized bodies and yet barbarous souls.

  Herman Melville

  Soul, Body, May

  1849 Redburn, ch.58.

  6 Copy quote

• The entire merit of a man can never be made known; nor the sum of his demerits, if he have them. We are only known by our names; as letters sealed up, we but read each other's superscriptions.

  Herman Melville

  Character, Men, Names

  Herman Melville (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Herman Melville (Illustrated)”, p.874, Delphi Classics

  4 Copy quote

• A whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard.

  Herman Melville

  College, Whales, Yale

  Moby Dick ch. 24 (1851)

  54 Copy quote

• Beneath those stars is a universe of gliding monsters.

  Herman Melville

  Stars, Monsters, Gliding

  15 Copy quote

• I am past scorching; not easily can’st thou scorch a scar.

  Herman Melville

  Past, Scar, Scorching

  Herman Melville (1892). “Moby Dick”, p.456

  6 Copy quote

• Toil is man's allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief that's more than either, the grief and sin of idleness.

  Herman Melville

  Work, Grief, Men

  Herman Melville (2012). “Mardi: And A Voyage Thither (Annotated Complete Edition)”, p.153, Jazzybee Verlag

  88 Copy quote

• A book in a man's brain is better off than a book bound in calf - at any rate it is safer from criticism.

  Herman Melville

  Book, Writing, Men

  Herman Melville (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Herman Melville (Illustrated)”, p.5186, Delphi Classics

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• Old age is always wakeful; as if, the longer linked with life, the less man has to do with aught that looks like death.

  Herman Melville

  Time, Insomnia, Men

  1851 Moby Dick, ch.29.

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• 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.

  Herman Melville

  Sad, Lasts, Firsts

  Herman Melville (1852). “Pierre; Or, The Ambiguities”, p.352

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• Know, thou, that the lines that live are turned out of a furrowed brow.

  Herman Melville

  Lines, Brows, Knows

  Herman Melville (2012). “Mardi: And A Voyage Thither (Annotated Complete Edition)”, p.500, Jazzybee Verlag

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• See how elastic our prejudices grow when once love comes to bend them.

  Herman Melville

  Prejudice, Grows

  Herman Melville (2006). “Moby Dick the Whale Volume I EasyRead Ed”, p.75, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• The terrors of truth and dart of death To faith alike are vain.

  Herman Melville

  Faith, Vain, Terror

  Herman Melville (1866). “Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War”, p.15

  4 Copy quote

• My body is but the lees of my better being.

  Herman Melville

  Body

  Herman Melville (1892). “Moby Dick”, p.40

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

  Herman Melville

  Heart, Together, Littles

  Herman Melville (2003). “Moby-Dick”, p.604, Bantam Classics

  10 Copy quote

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