Herman Melville Quotes

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
Herman Melville

Succeed, Fail, Imitation

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.
Herman Melville

Men, Live, Cannot

Friendship at first sight, like love at first sight, is said to be the only truth.
Herman Melville

Friendship, Love, Truth

He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it.
Herman Melville

Hate, Heart, Down

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, Head, Mercy

Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.
Herman Melville

Sleep, Christian, Sober

I am, as I am; whether hideous, or handsome, depends upon who is made judge.
Herman Melville

Judge, Made, Whether

A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.
Herman Melville

Hard, Words, Thinks

Art is the objectification of feeling.
Herman Melville

Let us speak, though we show all our faults and weaknesses, - for it is a sign of strength to be weak, to know it, and out with it - not in a set way and ostentatiously, though, but incidentally and without premeditation.
Herman Melville

Strength, Speak, Show

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

Sleep, Christian, Sober

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

Soul, Speak, Sea

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

Democracy, Hell, Whether

To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.
Herman Melville

Work, Great, Art

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.
Herman Melville

Life, Strange, Whole

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.
Herman Melville

Hate, Heart, Hell

There are some persons in this world, who, unable to give better proof of being wise, take a strange delight in showing what they think they have sagaciously read in mankind by uncharitable suspicions of them.
Herman Melville

Wise, Give, Strange

Truth is the silliest thing under the sun. Try to get a living by the Truth and go to the Soup Societies. Heavens! Let any clergyman try to preach the Truth from its very stronghold, the pulpit, and they would ride him out of his church on his own pulpit bannister.
Herman Melville

Truth, Him, Living

Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges.
Herman Melville

Truth, Edges, Ragged

A whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard.
Herman Melville

College, Ship, Harvard

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.
Herman Melville

Great, Book, Though

Truth is in things, and not in words.
Herman Melville

A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.
Herman Melville

Smile, Chosen, Vehicle

There is a touch of divinity even in brutes, and a special halo about a horse, that should forever exempt him from indignities.
Herman Melville

Him, Special, Touch

Whatever fortune brings, don't be afraid of doing things.
Herman Melville

Afraid, Whatever, Fortune

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Biography

Nationality: American

Born: August 1, 1819

Died: September 28, 1891

Links

Find on Amazon: Herman Melville

Cite this Page: Citation

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