“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”
Herman Melville
Pin I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing. Pin It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. Pin He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great. Failure is the true test of greatness. Pin I am, as I am; whether hideous, or handsome, depends upon who is made judge.
“Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.”
Herman Melville
PinFriendship at first sight, like love at first sight, is said to be the only truth. Pin A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities. Pin It is not down in any map; true places never are.Pin Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.
4 Herman Melville Quotes on Sailing and Traveling
Pin As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts. Pin In this world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely and without a passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers.Pin Life’s a voyage that’s homeward bound.Pin At sea a fellow comes out. Salt water is like wine, in that respect.
9 Herman Melville Quotes About Life
Pin Think not, is my eleventh commandment; and sleep when you can, is my twelfth.Pin Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me.Pin See how elastic our prejudices grow when once love comes to bend them.Pin I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best.Pin Truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself.Pin If you can get nothing better out of the world, get a good dinner out of it, at least.Pin 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.Pin There is sorrow in the world, but goodness too; and goodness that is not greenness, either, no more than sorrow is.Pin Is there some principal of nature which states that we never know the quality of what we have until it is gone?
8 Herman Melville Quotes on Success
Pin Whatever fortune brings, don’t be afraid of doing things.Pin I try all things, I achieve what I can.Pin Real strength never impairs beauty or harmony, but it often bestows it, and in everything imposingly beautiful, strength has much to do with the magic.Pin Yet habit – strange thing! What cannot habit accomplish?Pin Not one man in five cycles, who is wise, will expect appreciative recognition from his fellows.Pin To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.Pin 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.Pin When among wild beasts, if they menace you, be a wild beast.
3 Herman Melville Quotes on Religion
Pin I have no objection to any person’s religion, be it what it may, so long as that person does not kill or insult any other person, because that other person don’t believe it also.Pin Heaven have mercy on us all – Presbyterians and Pagans alike – for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending.Pin There is no dignity in wickedness, whether in purple or rags; and hell is a democracy of devils, where all are equals.
10 Herman Melville Quotes that will Make You Think
Pin Wonderfullest things are ever the unmentionable; deep memories yield no epitaphs.Pin Ignorance is the parent of fear.PinHope is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting her eternity.Pin For there is no folly of the beast of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.Pin It is the easiest thing in the world for a man to look as if he had a great secret in him.Pin I do not think I have any uncharitable prejudice against the rattlesnake, still, I should not like to be one.Pin Yes, as everyone knows, meditation and water are wedded forever.Pin Human madness is oftentimes a cunning and most feline thing. When you think it fled, it may have but become transfigured into some still subtler form.Pin We are only what we are; not what we would be; nor every thing we hope for. We are but a step in a scale, that reaches further above us than below.Pin To be hated cordially, is only a left-handed compliment.
3 Herman Melville Quotes on Truth
“In this world of lies, Truth is forced to fly like a scared white doe in the woodlands; and only by cunning glimpses will she reveal herself, as in Shakespeare and other masters of the great Art of Telling the Truth, even though it be covertly, and by snatches.”
Herman Melville
PinTruth uncompromisingly told will always have its jagged edges.Pin There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method.
3 Herman Melville Quotes on Words and Knowledge
Pin A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.Pin You know nothing till you know all; which is the reason we never know anything.Pin They talk of the dignity of work. The dignity is in leisure.
3 Herman Melville Quotes on America and Government
Pin Let America first praise mediocrity even, in her children, before she praises… the best excellence in the children of any other land.Pin There are times when even the most potent governor must wink at transgression, in order to preserve the laws inviolate for the future.Pin 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.
(MUST READ) Moby Dick: By Herman Melville & Illustrated
Overcoming depression and suicidal thoughts, Jeremiah Say found solace in quotes. After filling countless pages with resonating words, he moved his collection online to save trees and inspire others. Thus, GraciousQuotes.com was born. Jeremiah firmly believes in the power of quotes to swiftly spark inspiration during hard times. His blog is dedicated to uplifting others through these shared wisdoms. Discover more about Gracious Quotes or get in touch with Jeremiah.