Until we understand that our grief outweighs a thousand joys, we will never understand what Christianity is all about.
Herman MelvilleEveryone knows that in most people's estimation, to do anything cooly is to do it genteelly.
Herman MelvilleIn one word, Queequeg, said I, rather digressively; hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling; and since then perpetuated through the hereditary dyspepsias nurtured by Ramadans.
Herman MelvilleA chaplain is the minister of the Prince of Peace serving the host of the God of War--Mars. As such, he is as incongruous as a musket would be on the altar at Christmas. Why, then, is he there? Because he indirectly subserves the purpose attested by the cannon; because too he lends the sanction of the religion of the meek to that which practically is the abrogation of everything but brute Force.
Herman Melville