It is better to fail at originality than to succeed at imitation.
Herman Melville (1819-1891) American writer
(Attributed)
Quotations by:
Melville, Herman
If the gods think to speak outright to man, they will honorably speak outright; not shake their heads, and give an old wives’ darkling hint.
Herman Melville (1819-1891) American writer
Moby-Dick, ch. 133 [Ahab] (1851)
Being paid — what will compare with it? The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really marvelous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and on no account can a monied man enter heaven. Ah! how cheerfully we consign ourself to perdition!
Herman Melville (1819-1891) American writer
Moby-Dick, ch. 1 [Ishmael] (1851)
One knows not whether nature doth not impose some secrecy upon him who has been privy to certain things. At least, it is to be doubted whether it be good to blazon such. If some books are deemed most baneful and their sale forbid, how, then, with deadlier facts, not dreams of doting men? Those whom books will hurt will not be proof against events. Events, not books, should be forbid.
Whoever afflict us, whatever surround,
Life is a voyage that’s homeward-bound!Herman Melville (1819-1891) American writer
White-Jacket (1850)
Whoever is not in the possession of leisure can hardly be said to possess independence. They talk of the dignity of work. Bosh. True work is the necessity of poor humanity’s earthly condition. The dignity is in leisure.
Herman Melville (1819-1891) American writer
Letter to his cousin, Kate Gansevoort Lansing (5 Sep 1877)
Full text.
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, but incidentally and without premeditation.
Herman Melville (1819-1891) American writer
Letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne (29 Jun 1851)