Let America first praise mediocrity even, in her children, before she praises... the best excellence in the children of any other land.

Quote by Herman Melville

Topics: Herman Melville Quotes

A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities

A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities

Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she...

Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she...

Know, thou, that the lines that live are turned out of a furrowed brow.

Know, thou, that the lines that live are turned out of a furrowed brow.

If some books are deemed most baneful and their sale forbid, how, then, with deadlier...

If some books are deemed most baneful and their sale forbid, how, then, with deadlier...

Heaven have mercy on us all - Presbyterians and Pagans alike - for we are...

Heaven have mercy on us all - Presbyterians and Pagans alike - for we are...

Truth is in things, and not in words.

Truth is in things, and not in words.

A whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard.

A whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard.

Friendship at first sight, like love at first sight is said to be the only...

Friendship at first sight, like love at first sight is said to be the only...

Hope is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting...

Hope is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting...

Let us speak, though we show all our faults and weaknesses, - for it is...

Let us speak, though we show all our faults and weaknesses, - for it is...

There is nothing namable but that some men will, or undertake to, do it for...

There is nothing namable but that some men will, or undertake to, do it for...

It is not down in any map; true places never are.

It is not down in any map; true places never are.

There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life...

There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life...

Yet habit - strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?

Yet habit - strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?

God help thee, old man, thy thoughts have created a creature in thee; and he...

God help thee, old man, thy thoughts have created a creature in thee; and he...

There is all of the difference in the world between paying and being paid.

There is all of the difference in the world between paying and being paid.

The march of conquest through wild provinces, may be the march of Mind; but not...

The march of conquest through wild provinces, may be the march of Mind; but not...

There are hardly five critics in America; and several of them are asleep.

There are hardly five critics in America; and several of them are asleep.

To be called one thing, is oftentimes to be another.

To be called one thing, is oftentimes to be another.

Where do murderers go, man! Who's to doom, when the judge himself is dragged to...

Where do murderers go, man! Who's to doom, when the judge himself is dragged to...