To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be that have tried it.

Quote by Herman Melville

Topics: Books Quotes, Writing Quotes

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...

There is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by...

There is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by...

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...

A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.

A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.

Yet habit - strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?

Yet habit - strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?

Is there some principal of nature which states that we never know the quality of...

Is there some principal of nature which states that we never know the quality of...

It is impossible to talk or to write without apparently throwing oneself helplessly open.

It is impossible to talk or to write without apparently throwing oneself helplessly open.

Art is the objectification of feeling.

Art is the objectification of feeling.

Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violet tint ends and the...

Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violet tint ends and the...

Old age is always wakeful; as if, the longer linked with life, the less man...

Old age is always wakeful; as if, the longer linked with life, the less man...

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...

We may have civilized bodies and yet barbarous souls. We are blind to the real...

We may have civilized bodies and yet barbarous souls. We are blind to the real...

Truth is in things, and not in words.

Truth is in things, and not in words.

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

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

There are some persons in this world, who, unable to give better proof of being...

There are some persons in this world, who, unable to give better proof of being...

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 something wrong about the man who wants help. There is somewhere a deep...

There is something wrong about the man who wants help. There is somewhere a deep...

There is one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings...

There is one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings...

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...

There is a touch of divinity even in brutes, and a special halo about a...

There is a touch of divinity even in brutes, and a special halo about a...