Melville brought to the task a sound knowledge of actual whaling, much curious learning in the literature of the subject, and, above all, an imagination which worked with great power upon the facts of his own experience. – Carl Clinton Van Doren

Fantasies are more than substitutes for unpleasant reality they are also dress rehearsals, plans. All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination. – Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

My imagination makes me human and makes me a fool it gives me all the world, and exiles me from it. – Ursula K. Le Guin