Firsts Quotes by Herman Melville

We become sad in the first place because we have nothing stirring to do.

— Herman Melville

contempt is as frequently produced at first sight as love.

— Herman Melville

“hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling...”

— Herman Melville

Of all human events, perhaps, the publication of a first volume of verses is the most insignificant; but though a matter of…

— Herman Melville

In one word, Queequeg, said I, rather digressively; hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling; and since then perpetuated…

— Herman Melville

There is nothing so slipperily alluring as sadness; we become sad in the first place by having nothing stirring to do; we…

— Herman Melville

Death is only a launching into the region of the strange Untried; it is but the first salutation to the possibilities of…

— Herman Melville

Surely a gentle sister is the second best gift to a man; and it is first in point of occurrence; for the…

— Herman Melville

The world is forever babbling of originality; but there never yet was an original man, in the sense intended by the world;…

— Herman Melville

For small erections may be finished by their first architects; grand ones, true ones, ever leave the copestone to posterity. God keep…

— Herman Melville

As in digging for precious metals in the mines, much earthy rubbish has first to be troublesomely handled and thrown out; so,…

— Herman Melville

That hour in the life of a man when first the help of humanity fails him, and he learns that in his…

— Herman Melville

When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the "big canoe" of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their…

— Herman Melville

The pulpit is ever this earth's foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world. From thence…

— Herman Melville

For the profit of travel: in the first place, you get rid of a few prejudices… The prejudiced against color finds several…

— Herman Melville

Personal prudence, even when dictated by quite other than selfish considerations, surely is no special virtue in a military man; while an…

— Herman Melville

The late John Jacob Astor, a personage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation in pronouncing my first grand point to…

— Herman Melville

It is often to be observed, that as in digging for precious metals in the mines, much earthly rubbish has first to…

— Herman Melville

Those peculiar social sensibilities nourished by our own peculiar political principles, while they enhancethe true dignity of a prosperous American, do but…

— Herman Melville

We are now in the midst of our first television war ... the television environment [is] total and therefore invisible. Along with…

— Herman Melville

There is no figure more common in scripture, and none more beautiful, than that by which Christ is likened unto light. Incomprehensible…

— Herman Melville

Why is almost every robust healthy boy with a robust healthy soul in him, at some time or other crazy to go…

— Herman Melville