Moby Dick Quotes, Part I

"Here was a man... thrown among pepole as strange to him as though he were in the planet Jupiter; and yet he seemed entirely at ease; preserving the utmost serenity; content with his own companionship;always equal to himself." (On Queequeg, pg. 56)

I like the statement "always equal to himself".  How does it feel to be unequal to yourself?  I think I've felt that before, an uncomfortable, shaky feeling...

"... no man can ever feel his own identity aright except his eyes be closed; as if darkness were indeed the proper element of our essences, though light be more congenial to our clayey part." (60)
 
I remember when I was a teenager, I always spent an hour and a half falling asleep at night, spending time with myself and dwelling on things.  Sometimes we do find ourselves better in the darkness.

"Oh sweet friends! hearken to me.   It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt" (on clam chowder, pg 74)

nom nom nom...

"A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy!  All noble things are touched with that." (on Pequod, pg. 78)

True, I always feel a little noble when I'm sad. 

"I cherish the greatest respect towards everybody's religious obligations, never mind how comical, and could not find it in my heart to undervalue even a congregation of ants worshiping a toad-stool; or those other creatures in certain parts of the earth, who with a degree of footmanism quite unprecedented in other planets, bow down before the torso of a deceased land proprietor merely on account of the inordinate possessions yet owned and rented in his name." (90)

Ha!  This reminds me a bit of Douglas Adams (or does Douglas Adams remind me a bit of Melville?).  Brilliant, though one gets the feeling that he's a little less tolerant than he'd have you believe... but then again it might just be the climate of the times.

"But when a man suspects any wrong, it sometimes happens that if he be already involved in the matter, he insensibly strives to cover up his suspicions even from himself.  And much this way it was with me.  I said nothing, and tried to think of nothing."

Ugh.  Much better to face the facts Ishmael, Ahab's a loon. 

Melville, Herman.  Moby Dick, or The Whale.New York: Penguin Books, 1992.  


Thanks Dr. Richard.