Both the ancestry and posterity of Grief go further than the ancestry and posterity of Joy. — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
“Oh, lonely death on lonely life! Oh, now I feel my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief.” — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
There is sorrow in the world, but goodness too; and goodness that is not greenness, either, no more than sorrow is. — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
“That mortal man who hath more of joy than sorrow in him, that mortal man cannot be true — not true, or… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
Until we understand that our grief outweighs a thousand joys, we will never understand what Christianity is all about. — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
We may have civilized bodies and yet barbarous souls. We are blind to the real sights of this world; deaf to its… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
In our man-of-war world, Life comes in at one gangway and Death goes overboard at the other. Under the man-of-war scourge, cursesmix… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
Toil is man's allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief that's more than either, the grief and sin… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
“and man, though idiotic, and knowing not what he does, yet full of the sweet things of love and gratitude.” — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
“But were the coming narrative to reveal in any instance, the complete abasement of poor Starbuck's fortitude, scarce might I have the heart to… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
“(On Ralph Waldo Emerson)I love all men who dive. Any fish can swim near the surface, but it takes a great whale to go… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
“So seemed it to me, as I stood at her helm, and for long hours silently guided the way of this fire-ship on the… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
“Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
“Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
“Now, as I before hinted, I have no objection to any person's religion, be it what it may, so long as that person does… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
Let America first praise mediocrity even, in her children, before she praises... the best excellence in the children of any other land. — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
“Yet this is life. For hardly have we mortals by long toilings extracted from this world's vast bulk its small but valuable sperm; and… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
