Ifs Quotes by Herman Melville

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

— Herman Melville

Charity, like poetry, should be cultivated, if only for its being graceful.

— Herman Melville

Ladies are like creeds; if you cannot speak well of them, say nothing.

— Herman Melville

If not against us, nature is not for us.

— Herman Melville

If you begin the day with a laugh, you may, nevertheless, end it with a sob and a sigh.

— Herman Melville

The worst of our evils we blindly inflict upon ourselves; our officers cannot remove them, even if they would.

— Herman Melville

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

— Herman Melville

There are doubts, sir, which, if man have them, it is not man that can solve them.

— Herman Melville

If you can get nothing better out of the world, get a good dinner out of it, at least.

— Herman Melville

If there be any thing a man might well pray against, that thing is the responsive gratification of some of the devoutest…

— Herman Melville

If Shakespeare has not been equalled, he is sure to be surpassed, and surpassed by an American born now or yet to…

— Herman Melville

The food of thy soul is light and space; feed it then on light and space. But the food of thy body…

— Herman Melville

The entire merit of a man can never be made known; nor the sum of his demerits, if he have them. We…

— Herman Melville

He who has never failed somewhere, that man can notbe great. Failure is the true test of greatness. And if it be…

— Herman Melville

We should, if possible, prove a teacher to posterity, instead of being the pupil of by-gone generations. More shall come after us…

— Herman Melville

If a well-constituted individual refrains from blazoning aught amiss or calamitous in his family, a nation in the like circumstance may without…

— Herman Melville

Let us waive that agitated national topic, as to whether such multitudes of foreign poor should be landed on our American shores;let…

— Herman Melville

Aside from higher considerations, charity often operates as a vastly wise and prudent principle-a great safeguard to its possessor. Men have committed…

— Herman Melville

People think that if a man has undergone any hardship, he should have a reward; but for my part, if I have…

— 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

Though essaying but a sportive sail, I was driven from my course by a blast re sistless; and ill-provided, young, and bowed…

— Herman Melville

To anybody who can hold the Present at its worth without being inappreciative of the Past, it may be forgiven, if to…

— Herman Melville