World Quotes by Herman Melville

Yea, foolish mortals, Noah's flood is not yet subsided; two thirds of the fair world it yet covers.

— Herman Melville

There is sorrow in the world, but goodness too; and goodness that is not greenness, either, no more than sorrow is.

— Herman Melville

All the world over, the picturesque yields to the pocketesque.

— Herman Melville

In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary?

— Herman Melville

Wag the world how it will, Leaves must be green in Spring.

— Herman Melville

The world's a ship on its voyage out, and not a voyage complete; and the pulpit is its prow.

— Herman Melville

And the visible world seems formed in love, the invisible spheres were formed in fright.

— Herman Melville

I rejoice in my spine, as in the firm audacious staff of that flag which I fling half out to the world.

— 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

There are some persons in this world, who, unable to give better proof of being wise, take a strange delight in showing…

— 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

All round and round does the world lie as in a sharp-shooter's ambush, to pick off the beautiful illusions of youth, by…

— Herman Melville

It may seem strange that of all men sailors should be tinkering at their last wills and testaments, but there are no…

— Herman Melville

We are not a nation, so much as a world; for unless we claim all the world for our sire, like Melchisedec,…

— Herman Melville

...in certain moods, no man can weigh this world without throwing in something, somehow like Original Sin, to strike the uneven balance.

— Herman Melville

Were civilization itself to be estimated by some of its results, it would seem perhaps better for what we call the barbarous…

— Herman Melville

The grand principles of virtue and honor, however they may be distorted by arbitrary codes, are the same the world over: and…

— Herman Melville

Where lies the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more? In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will…

— Herman Melville

In the operative opinion of the world, he who is already fully provided with what is necessary for him, that man shall…

— Herman Melville

We may have civilized bodies and yet barbarous souls. We are blind to the real sights of this world; deaf to its…

— 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

Where is there such an one who has not a thousand times been struck with a sort of infidel idea, that whatever…

— Herman Melville

truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that…

— Herman Melville

What man who carries a heavenly soul in him, has not groaned to perceive, that unless he committed a sort of suicide…

— Herman Melville

And, as for me, if, by any possibility, there be any as yet undiscovered prime thing in me; if I shall ever…

— Herman Melville

Woe to him whom this world charms from Gospel duty. Woe to him who seeks to pour oil upon the waters when…

— Herman Melville

There was about all the Romans a heroic tone peculiar to ancient life. Their virtues were great and noble, and these virtues…

— Herman Melville

It does seem to me, that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong individual vitality, and the rare virtue of…

— Herman Melville

Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden…

— Herman Melville

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

— Herman Melville

In our own hearts, we mold the whole world's hereafters; and in our own hearts we fashion our own gods.

— Herman Melville

There are two places in the world where men can most effectively disappear - the city of London and the South Seas.

— Herman Melville

There is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself.

— Herman Melville

“But this whole world is a preposterous one, with many preposterous people in it.”

— Herman Melville

There is all of the difference in the world between paying and being paid.

— Herman Melville

“I would be as free as air; and I'm down in the whole world's books.”

— Herman Melville

It is with fiction as with religion: it should present another world, and yet one to which we feel the tie.

— Herman Melville

Genius, all over the world, stands hand in hand, and one shock of recognition runs the whole circle round.

— Herman Melville

It is the easiest thing in the world for a man to look as if he had a great secret in him.

— Herman Melville

“Were I the wind, I'd blow no more on such a wicked, miserable world.”

— Herman Melville