There seems no reason why patriotism and narrowness should go together, or why intellectual fairmindedness should be confounded with political trimming, or why serviceable truth should keep cloistered because not partisan.
Herman Melville Quotes
Omen? omen? – the dictionary! If the gods think to speak outright to man, they will honourably speak outright; not shake their heads, and give an old wives’ darkling hint.
Heaven have mercy on us all – Presbyterians and Pagans alike – for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending.
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
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.
Hope is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting her eternity.
Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.
All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks… strike, strike through the mask!
Better sleep with a sober cannibal that a drunken Christian.
If some books are deemed most baneful and their sale forbid, how then with deadlier facts, not dreams of doting men? Those whom books will hurt will not be proof against events. Events, not books should be forbid.
