Miscellaneous Quotations M-N
"Aside from higher considerations, charity
often operates as a vastly wise and prudent principle - a great safeguard
to its possessor. Men have committed murder for jealousy's sake,
and anger's sake, and hatred's sake, and selfishness' sake,
and spiritual pride's sake; but no man, that ever I heard of,
ever committed a diabolical murder for sweet charity's sake. Mere
self-interest, then, if no better motive can be enlisted, should, especially
with high-tempered men, prompt all beings to charity and philantropy."
Herman Melville, 'Bartleby'
in Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories (Harmondsworth, 1985, p.88).
"If a man be in any vague latent doubt about the intrinsic
correctness and excellence of his general life-theory and practical course
of life; then, if that man chance to light on any other man, or any little
treatise, or sermon, which unintendingly, as it were, yet very palpably
illustrates to him the intrinsic incorrectness and non-excellence of
both the theory and the practice of his life; then that man will - more
or less unconsciously - try hard to hold himself back from the self-admitted
comprehension of a matter which thus condemns him. For in this case,
to comprehend, is himself to condemn himself, which is always highly
inconvenient and uncomfortable to a man. Again. If a man be told a thing
wholly new, then - during the time of its first announcement to him -
it is entirely impossible for him to comprehend it. For - absurde as
it may seem - men are only made to comprehend things which they comprehended
before (though but in the embryo, as it were). Things new it is impossible
to make them comprehend, by merely talking to them about it."
Herman Melville, Pierre (New York, London, 1996, p.209).
"Talk not of the bitterness of middle-age and after life; a boy can feel all that,
and much more, when upon his young soul the mildew has fallen; and the fruit,
which with others is only blasted after ripeness, with him is nipped in the first
blossom and bud. And never again can such blights be made good; they strike too
deep, and leave such a scar that the air of Paradise might not erase it. And it is
a hard and cruel thing thus in early youth to taste beforehand the pangs which
should be reserved for the stout time of manhood, when the gristle has become bone,
and we stand up and fight out our lives, as a thing tried before and foreseen;
for then we are veterans used to sieges and battles, and not green recruits,
recoiling at the first shock of the encounter."
Herman Melville, Redburn (New York, London, 1976, p.53).
"There is something in the contemplation of the mode in which America has been
settled, that, in a noble breast, should forever extinguish the prejudices of
national dislikes."
Herman Melville, Redburn (New York, London, 1976, p.238).
"Now, music is a holy thing, and its instruments, however humble, are to be loved
and revered. Whatever has made, or does make, or may make music, should be held
sacred as the golden bridle-bit of the Shah of Persia's horse, and the golden hammer,
with which his hoofs are shod. Musical instruments should be like the silver tongs,
with which the high-priests tended the Jewish altars - never to be touched by a hand
profane."
Herman Melville, Redburn (New York, London, 1976, p.331).
"But Knowledge is as food, and needs
no less
Her temperance over appetite to know
In measure what the mind may well contain,
Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns
Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind."John Milton, Paradise Lost
(Book VII, 126-130).
Her temperance over appetite to know
In measure what the mind may well contain,
Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns
Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind."
"But apt the mind or fancy is to rove
Unchecked, and of her roving is no end,
Till, warned, or by experience taught, she learn
That not to know at large of things remote
From use, obscure and subtle, but to know
That which before us lies in daily life,
Is the prime wisdom: what is more is fume,
Or emptiness, or fond impertinence,
And renders us in things that most concern
Unpractised, unprepared, and still to seek."John Milton, Paradise Lost
(Book VIII, 188-197).
Unchecked, and of her roving is no end,
Till, warned, or by experience taught, she learn
That not to know at large of things remote
From use, obscure and subtle, but to know
That which before us lies in daily life,
Is the prime wisdom: what is more is fume,
Or emptiness, or fond impertinence,
And renders us in things that most concern
Unpractised, unprepared, and still to seek."
"The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."John Milton, Paradise Lost
(Book I, 254-255).
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."
"solitude sometimes is best society,
And short retirement urges sweet return."John Milton, Paradise Lost
(Book IX, 249-250).
And short retirement urges sweet return."
"'Not failure but low
aim is crime. We must have ideals and try to live up to them, even if we
never quite succeed. Life would be a sorry business without them. With them
it's grand and great.'"
L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea (Harmondsworth, 1994, p.148).
"'We should regret our mistakes
and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us.'"
L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea (Harmondsworth, 1994, p.149).
"'Humour is the spiciest condiment in the feast of
existence. Laugh at your mistakes but learn from them, joke over your troubles
but gather strength from them, make a jest of your difficulties but overcome
them.'"
L.M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island (Harmondsworth, 1994, p.265).
Introspective Reflection
"I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance
Were it not for making a living, which is rather a nouciance."Ogden Nash
"I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance
Were it not for making a living, which is rather a nouciance."
The Turtle
"The turtle lives twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile."Ogden Nash
"The turtle lives twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile."