Herman Melville
Herman Melville
Herman Melvillewas an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period best known for Typee, a romantic account of his experiences in Polynesian life, and his whaling novel Moby-Dick. His work was almost forgotten during his last thirty years. His writing draws on his experience at sea as a common sailor, exploration of literature and philosophy, and engagement in the contradictions of American society in a period of rapid change. He developed a complex, baroque style:...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth1 August 1819
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
It is not for man to follow the trail of truth too far, since by so doing he entirely loses the directing compass of his mind.
There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar.
It is with fiction as with religion: it should present another world, and yet one to which we feel the tie.
The names of all fine authors are fictitious ones, far more so than that of Junius,--simply standing, as they do, for the mystical, ever-eluding Spirit of all Beauty, which ubiquitously possesses men of genius.
The only ugliness is that of the heart, seen through the face. And though beauty be obvious, the only loveliness is invisible.
A beautiful woman is born Queen of men and women both, as Mary Stuart was born Queen of Scots, whether men or women.
beauty is like piety--you cannot run and read it; tranquility and constancy, with, now-a-days, an easy chair, are needed.
One of the coolest and wisest hours a man has, is just after he awakes in the morning.
While nature thus very early and very abundantly feeds us, she is very late in tutoring us as to the proper methodization of our diet.
Boy, take my advice, and never try to invent any thing but--happiness.
Of the quaking recruit, three pitched battles make a grim grenadier; and he who shrank from the muzzle of a cannon, is now ready to yield his mustache for a sponge.
He who is ready to despair in solitary peril, plucks up a heart in the presence of another. In a plurality of comrades is much countenance and consolation.
Let us only hate hatred; and once give love a play, we will fall in love with a unicorn.
In a multitude of acquaintances is less security, than in one faithful friend.