The sailor is frankness, the landsman is finesse. Life is not a game with the sailor, demanding the long head – Herman Melville
Hope is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting her eternity. – 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
A true military officer is in one particular like a true monk. Not with more self-abnegation will the latter keep his vows of monastic obedience than the former his vows of allegiance to martial duty. – Herman Melville