Ahab and anguish lay stretched together in one hammock.

— Herman Melville

Ahab is forever Ahab, man. This whole act's immutably decreed. 'Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion years before this ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates' lieutenant, I act under orders.

— Herman Melville

Ahab still stood like an anvil, receiving every shock, but without the least quivering of his own.

— Herman Melville

Ah, happiness courts the light so we deem the world is gay. But misery hides aloof so we deem that misery there is none.

— Herman Melville

All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life.

— Herman Melville

All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life.

— Herman Melville

All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a philosopher, though seated in the whale-boat, you would not at heart feel one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with a poker, and not a harpoon, by your side.

— Herman Melville

All my means are sane, my motive and my object mad.

— Herman Melville

A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.

— Herman Melville

And the drawing near of Death, which alike levels all, alike impresses all with a last revelation, which only an author from the dead could adequately tell.

— Herman Melville