43+ Best Herman Melville Quotes | Herman Melville Biography
Herman Melville Biography
Herman Melville was a celebrated American author. He was born in New York City on August 1, 1819, to Allan and Maria Gansevoort Melvill. His father was a merchant from a wealthy family that owned a profitable fur-trading business. Due to the high socioeconomic status of his family, Melville was able to live a life of luxury.
The son studied at Columbia College in New York and he was also a sailor before being rejected from the Navy because of near-sightedness. He married Sophia Hawthorne and had four children. His wife died in 1864 and Melville died on September 28, 1891 Melville wrote 17 novels and three books of poetry.
Herman Melville was best known for his novel “Moby Dick”. His novels are usually about the sea and include a mix of reality and allegory. He was also a magazine editor for Harper’s.
Herman Melville Quotes
- “The difference between false and true love is as great as the difference between utter darkness and the brightest light.”
- “The more you know a man’s story, the better you’ll understand him.”
- “You will find that all apparent impossibilities may sometimes be overcome by perseverance and skill.”
- “Everybody has their own individual tastes”
- “Success in life is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.”
- “If you’ve done your best and failed, then you haven’t really failed.”
- “I don’t care who you are, you need to carry a pocket knife.”
- “The mind once expanded to the dimensions of larger ideas, never returns to its original size.”
- “All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
- “Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits”
- “In the end, only one person is responsible for your happiness: you.”
- “Our life is like a blank sheet of paper. We write our own destiny with it.”
- “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”
- “You could not ask for a sharper contrast between the world I find myself in and what I had hoped the world would be like from within myself.”
- “To be able to endure great pain, you must have a great strength of character.”
- “The wise man should not judge others; he should never be deceived by their appearances or actions.”
- “Life is a series of lessons that makes us smarter in some ways and dumber in others.”
- “Man is by nature a social animal, but he alone can hardly bear being alone. It is the only thing in the world, which he will not willingly do.”
- “Have you ever thoroughly examined a shrew? There is not much there; all there is, lies under the surface.”
- “Life is like a theatre: we always play a role. We may be taught to act; but what we are really suited for, is to be acted upon.”
- “If you have knowledge that can benefit others, it doesn’t matter whether you are useful to them or not. To have knowledge is to be useful.”
- “It is my interest to take what little I can learn of my own life, and apply it in the way that will help others.”
- “A man should never despair; for, what he does today may be the source of his tomorrow’s happiness.”
- “The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way”
- “Every great dream starts with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
- “The best and most lasting things are those that come from within. – What we like is often a forerunner of what we shall like tomorrow; but those that pursue popular applause never arrive at felicity; while, on the contrary, he whom moderate sympathy prompts to praise others that praise is never misplaced”
- “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
- “My words are like arrows that fly in one direction — namely toward what I am aiming at”
- I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won’t.”
- “No one has lived his life all the way up except Jesus—and you and I know that there were things about Him we do not yet know because He never told anybody everything about Himself.”
- “Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are”
- “The difference between false and true love is as great as the difference between utter darkness and the brightest light.”
- “I have always maintained that women were meant for either the piano or the kitchen, and not for both at once”
- “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more you are a leader.”
- “The quickest way to become a successful leader is to serve success”
- “Your greatest strength lies in your weakness”
- “If you look at life as an adventure, a challenge, a mystery, and if you reach deep within yourself and touch the infinite source of all that is good and right in the world, then your actions will be inspired by love and goodness.”
- “I did not fail the test. I passed it with flying colors, and my reward for that is to be able to take this class with all of you.”
- “A life without a friend is like an unproductive garden”
- “Which of your enemies would you wish to be friends with? And which of your friends do you treat as enemies? … If you can answer these questions, then you may know what a true friend is”
- “Treat your enemies well, and they may become your friends.”
- “We judge people by the people we know; so not as those appear to be, but as they appear to us; not as the world knows them, but as we know them.”
- “If you want people to treat you as you treat them, be the first person in the world to treat everyone as you would like to be treated.”
- “When you are tempted to give up, remember the Lord’s Prayer: ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”
- “The highest form of wisdom is kindness”
- “I believe in the unseen force called The Power of the Subconscious Mind. I believe that only a person who believes in it and uses it as a tool can call himself a success.
