Famous Herman Melville Quotes

  • Come what will, one comfort’s always left -” that unfailing comfort is, it’s all predestinated. – Herman Melville

    Come what will, one comfort’s always left -” that unfailing comfort is, it’s all predestinated.– Herman Melville

  • Ahab still stood like an anvil, receiving every shock, but without the least quivering of his own. – Herman Melville

    Ahab still stood like an anvil, receiving every shock, but without the least quivering of his own.– Herman Melville

  • … the most reliable and useful courage was that which arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril, – Herman Melville

    … the most reliable and useful courage was that which arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril,– Herman Melville

  • … an utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward. – Herman Melville

    … an utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward.– Herman Melville

  • 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

    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

  • I’ll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy. – Herman Melville

    I’ll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy.– Herman Melville

  • Ahab and aguish lay stretched together in one hammock. – Herman Melville

    Ahab and aguish lay stretched together in one hammock.– Herman Melville

  • To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain. – Herman Melville

    To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain.– Herman Melville

  • [T]here is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men. – Herman Melville

    [T]here is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.– Herman Melville

  • The classification of the constituents of a chaos, nothing less is here essayed. – Herman Melville

    The classification of the constituents of a chaos, nothing less is here essayed.– Herman Melville