--- title: "6 Herman-melville Quotes By Herman Melville" description: "6 Herman-melville quotes by Herman Melville. Plus more from Herman Melville and more Herman-melville sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/herman-melville-162_abraham_it-was-a-black-and-hooded-head-and-hangi_100161.jpg" --- > [“It was a black and hooded head; and hanging there in the midst of so intense a calm, it seemed the Sphynx’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/it-was-a-black-and-hooded-head-and-hanging-there-in-the-midst-of-so/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/herman-melville-162_abraham_it-was-a-black-and-hooded-head-and-hangi_100161.jpg) > [“...the books that prove most agreeable, grateful, and companionable, are those we pick up by chance here and there; those which seem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/the-books-that-prove-most-agreeable-grateful-and-companionable-are/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b34/herman-melville-162_books_the-books-that-prove-most-agreeable-grat_1218998.jpg) > [“I leave a white and turbid wake; pale waters, paler cheeks, where'er I sail. The envious billows sidelong swell to whelm my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/i-leave-a-white-and-turbid-wake-pale-waters-paler-cheeks-where-er-i-2/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/caa/herman-melville-162_185_i-leave-a-white-and-turbid-wake-pale-wat_1836260.jpg) > [“But vain to popularize profundities, and all truth is profound.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/but-vain-to-popularize-profundities-and-all-truth-is-profound/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/161/herman-melville-162_herman-melville_but-vain-to-popularize-profundities-and_2410389.jpg) > [“But pity there was none. For all his old age, and his one arm, and his blind eyes, he must die the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/but-pity-there-was-none-for-all-his-old-age-and-his-one-arm-and-his/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/993/herman-melville-162_blind_but-pity-there-was-none-for-all-his-old_2874845.jpg) > [“and yet a child’s utter innocence is but its blank ignorance, and the innocence more or less wanes as intelligence waxes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/and-yet-a-child-s-utter-innocence-is-but-its-blank-ignorance-and-the/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/64a/herman-melville-162_children_and-yet-a-child-s-utter-innocence-is-but_2878782.jpg) ## More by Herman Melville > [“and man, though idiotic, and knowing not what he does, yet full of the sweet things of love and gratitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/and-man-though-idiotic-and-knowing-not-what-he-does-yet-full-of-the/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/but-were-the-coming-narrative-to-reveal-in-any-instance-the-complete/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [“(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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/on-ralph-waldo-emerson-i-love-all-men-who-dive-any-fish-can-swim-near/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/so-seemed-it-to-me-as-i-stood-at-her-helm-and-for-long-hours-silently/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [“the only real owner of anything is its commander;”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/the-only-real-owner-of-anything-is-its-commander/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [“Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/consider-the-subtleness-of-the-sea-how-its-most-dreaded-creatures/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [“Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/is-it-that-by-its-indefiniteness-it-shadows-forth-the-heartless-voids/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/now-as-i-before-hinted-i-have-no-objection-to-any-person-s-religion/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [Let America first praise mediocrity even, in her children, before she praises... the best excellence in the children of any other land.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/let-america-first-praise-mediocrity-even-in-her-children-before-she/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [Only the man who says no is free](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/only-the-man-who-says-no-is-free/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [Beneath those stars is a universe of gliding monsters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/beneath-those-stars-is-a-universe-of-gliding-monsters/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/yet-this-is-life-for-hardly-have-we-mortals-by-long-toilings/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [I never fancied broiling fowls; - though once broiled, judiciously buttered, and judgmatically salted and peppered, there is no one who will speak more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/i-never-fancied-broiling-fowls-though-once-broiled-judiciously/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [War should be carried on like a monsoon; one changeless determination of every particle towards the one unalterable aim.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/war-should-be-carried-on-like-a-monsoon-one-changeless-determination/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [Genius is full of trash.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/genius-is-full-of-trash/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/herman-melville-2/herman-melville/#itemlist", "name": "6 Herman-melville Quotes By Herman Melville", "numberOfItems": 6, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It was a black and hooded head; and hanging there in the midst of so intense a calm, it seemed the Sphynx’s in the desert. “Speak, thou vast and venerable head,” muttered Ahab, “which, though ungarnished with a beard, yet here and there lookest hoary with mosses; speak, mighty head, and tell us the secret thing that is in thee. Of all divers, thou hast dived the deepest. That head upon which the upper sun now gleams, has moved amid this world’s foundations. Where unrecorded names and navies rust, and untold hopes and anchors rot; where in her murderous hold this frigate earth is ballasted with bones of millions of the drowned; there, in that awful water-land, there was thy most familiar home. Thou hast been where bell or diver never went; hast slept by many a sailor’s side, where sleepless mothers would give their lives to lay them down. Thou saw’st the locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship; heart to heart they sank beneath the exulting wave; true to each other, when heaven seemed false to them. Thou saw’st the murdered mate when tossed by pirates from the midnight deck; for hours he fell into the deeper midnight of the insatiate maw; and his murderers still sailed on unharmed—while swift lightnings shivered the neighboring ship that would have borne a righteous husband to outstretched, longing arms. O head! thou hast seen enough to split the planets and make an infidel of Abraham, and not one syllable is thine!”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Herman Melville" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/it-was-a-black-and-hooded-head-and-hanging-there-in-the-midst-of-so/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/herman-melville-162_abraham_it-was-a-black-and-hooded-head-and-hangi_100161.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/herman-melville-162_abraham_it-was-a-black-and-hooded-head-and-hangi_100161.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/herman-melville-162_abraham_it-was-a-black-and-hooded-head-and-hangi_100161.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It was a black and hooded head; and hanging there in the midst of so intense a calm, it seemed the Sphynx’s…” — Herman Melville", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“...the books that prove most agreeable, grateful, and companionable, are those we pick up by chance here and there; those which seem put into our hands by Providence; those which pretend to little, but abound by much.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Herman Melville" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/the-books-that-prove-most-agreeable-grateful-and-companionable-are/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b34/herman-melville-162_books_the-books-that-prove-most-agreeable-grat_1218998.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b34/herman-melville-162_books_the-books-that-prove-most-agreeable-grat_1218998.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b34/herman-melville-162_books_the-books-that-prove-most-agreeable-grat_1218998.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“...the books that prove most agreeable, grateful, and companionable, are those we pick up by chance here and…” — Herman Melville", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I leave a white and turbid wake; pale waters, paler cheeks, where'er I sail. 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'Tis split, too --that I feel; the jagged edge galls me so, my brain seems to beat against the solid metal; aye, steel skull, mine; the sort that needs no helmet in the most brain-battering fight!”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Herman Melville" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/i-leave-a-white-and-turbid-wake-pale-waters-paler-cheeks-where-er-i-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/caa/herman-melville-162_185_i-leave-a-white-and-turbid-wake-pale-wat_1836260.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/caa/herman-melville-162_185_i-leave-a-white-and-turbid-wake-pale-wat_1836260.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/caa/herman-melville-162_185_i-leave-a-white-and-turbid-wake-pale-wat_1836260.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I leave a white and turbid wake; pale waters, paler cheeks, where'er I sail. 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