Herman Melville

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”

“But all the things that God would have us do are hard for us to do - remember that - and hence, he oftener commands us than endeavors to persuade. And if we obey God, we must disobey ourselves; and it is in this disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists.”

“To be hated cordially, is only a left-handed compliment.”

“Queequeg was a native of Kokovoko, an island far away to the West and South. It is not down in any map; true places never are.”

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

“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.”