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Herman Melville Quotes

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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.

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
Life, Birthday, Time

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

Herman Melville
Inspirational, Life, Motivational
Herman Melville, Harrison Hayford, G. Thomas Tanselle (1987). “Piazza Tales and Other Prose Pieces, 1839-1860: Volume Nine, Scholarly Edition”, p.247, Northwestern University Press

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
Inspirational, Learning, Knowledge
Herman Melville, Harrison Hayford, G. Thomas Tanselle (1987). “Piazza Tales and Other Prose Pieces, 1839-1860: Volume Nine, Scholarly Edition”, p.296, Northwestern University Press

Only the man who says no is free

Herman Melville
Men, He Man

I will live and die by this testimony: that I loved a good conscience; that I never invaded another man's liberty; and that I preserved my own.

Herman Melville
Men, Liberty, Testimony
Herman Melville (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Herman Melville (Illustrated)”, p.1017, Delphi Classics

If you are poor, avoid wine as a costly luxury; if you are rich, shun it as a fatal indulgence. Stick to plain water.

Herman Melville
Wine, Luxury, Water
Herman Melville (1855). “Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile”, p.76

He knows himself, and all that's in him, who knows adversity.

Herman Melville
Knowledge, Adversity, Self
Herman Melville (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Herman Melville (Illustrated)”, p.1231, Delphi Classics

Life’s a voyage that’s homeward bound.

Herman Melville
Life, Inspiring, Voyages
Herman Melville (1970). “White-jacket: Or, The World in a Man-of-war”, p.400, Northwestern University Press

Ignorance is the father of all fear.

Herman Melville
Father, Ignorance

No philosophers so thoroughly comprehend us as dogs and horses.

Herman Melville
Dog, Horse, Philosopher
Herman Melville (2016). “Redburn.His First Voyage”, p.222, Herman Melville

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

Herman Melville
Inspirational, Life, Spiritual

It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation. He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great. Failure is the true test of greatness.

Herman Melville
Greatness, Men, Tests
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Julian Hawthorne (2015). “Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Letters, Diaries, Reminiscences and Extensive Biographies: Autobiographical Writings of the Renowned American Novelist, Author of “The Scarlet Letter”, “The House of Seven Gables” and “Twice-Told Tales””, p.1775, e-artnow

The Past is dead, and has no resurrection; but the Future is endowed with such a life, that it lives to us even in anticipation. The Past is, in many things, the foe of mankind; the Future is, in all things, our friend. In the Past is no hope; The Future is both hope and fruition. The Past is the text-book of tyrants; the Future is the Bible of the Free. Those who are solely governed by the Past stand like Lot's wife, crystallized in the act of looking backward, and forever incapable of looking before.

Herman Melville
Book, Past, Tyrants
Herman Melville (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Herman Melville (Illustrated)”, p.1541, Delphi Classics

The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails whereon my soul is grooved to run

Herman Melville
Running, Iron, Soul
Herman Melville (1892). “Moby Dick”, p.161

The Past is the textbook of tyrants; the Future is the Bible of the Free.

Herman Melville
Past, Tyrants, Textbooks
Herman Melville (2016). “White Jacket”, p.161, Herman Melville

There's magic in the water that draws all men away form the land, that leads them over hills, down creeks and streams and rivers to the sea.

Herman Melville
Men, Sea, Fishing

The eyes are the gateway to the soul.

Herman Melville
Eye, Soul, Vision

At my years, and with my disposition, or rather, constitution, one gets to care less and less for everything except downright goodfeeling. Life is so short, and so ridiculous and irrational (from a certain point of view) that one knows not what to make of it, unless--well, finish the sentence for yourself.

Herman Melville
Life, Views, Years
Herman Melville, Lynn Horth (1993). “Correspondence”, p.454, Northwestern University Press

It is not down in any map; true places never are.

Herman Melville
Nature, Travel, Home
Herman Melville (1892). “Moby Dick”, p.57

Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges.

Herman Melville
Literature, Edges, Ragged
Herman Melville (2009). “Billy Budd, Sailor and Selected Tales”, p.312, OUP Oxford

Ignorance is the parent of fear.

Herman Melville
Fear, Healing, Ignorance
Herman Melville (2008). “Moby-Dick”, p.24, Velvet Element Books

When among wild beasts, if they menace you, be a wild beast.

Herman Melville
Beast, Menace, Aggression
Herman Melville (1855). “Israel Potter: his fifty years of exile”, p.246

The sweetest joys of life grow in the very jaws of its perils.

Herman Melville
Joy, Danger, Peril
Herman Melville (2015). “Pierre or The Ambiguities: Works of Melville”, p.71, 谷月社

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
Art, Lying, White
Herman Melville, Harrison Hayford, Hershel Parker, G. Thomas Tanselle (1988). “Moby Dick, Or The Whale: Volume 6, Scholarly Edition”, p.613, Northwestern University Press

You know nothing till you know all; which is the reason we never know any thing.

Herman Melville
Knowledge, Reason, Knows
Herman Melville (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Herman Melville (Illustrated)”, p.1221, Delphi Classics

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