Herman Melville

Herman Melville

16 quotes

As an American writer and poet, Herman Melville earned a lasting place in the canon of memorable quotations. With equal ease, Herman Melville moved between Truth and Hope, finding connections others missed. 23 of Herman Melville's sharpest quotes live here, spanning themes of Truth, Hope, Art, Work, and Wisdom. One quote that captures their voice: "Art is the objectification of feeling."

“Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges.”

— Herman Melville

Truth

All Quotes by Herman Melville

“Truth is the silliest thing under the sun. Try to get a living by the Truth and go to the Soup Societies. Heavens! Let any clergyman try to preach the Truth from its very stronghold, the pulpit, and they would ride him out of his church on his own pulpit bannister.”

— Herman Melville

Truth

“There are times when even the most potent governor must wink at transgression, in order to preserve the laws inviolate for the future.”

— Herman Melville

Future

“Truth is in things, and not in words.”

— Herman Melville

Truth

“Is there some principal of nature which states that we never know the quality of what we have until it is gone?”

— Herman Melville

Nature

“At sea a fellow comes out. Salt water is like wine, in that respect.”

— Herman Melville

Respect

“Art is the objectification of feeling.”

— Herman Melville

Art

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.”

— Herman Melville

Men

“To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.”

— Herman Melville

Art

“Friendship at first sight, like love at first sight, is said to be the only truth.”

— Herman Melville

Friendship

“Hope is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting her eternity.”

— Herman Melville

Hope

“In this world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without passport whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers.”

— Herman Melville

Travel

“Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope.”

— Herman Melville

Faith

“A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.”

— Herman Melville

Smile

“Let us speak, though we show all our faults and weaknesses, - for it is a sign of strength to be weak, to know it, and out with it - not in a set way and ostentatiously, though, but incidentally and without premeditation.”

— Herman Melville

Strength

“Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges.”

— Herman Melville

Truth

“Old age is always wakeful as if, the longer linked with life, the less man has to do with aught that looks like death.”

— Herman Melville

Age