Where lies the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more? In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary? Where is the foundlingโs father hidden? Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die in bearing them: the secret of our paternity lies in their grave, and we must there to learn it.
Herman Melvillebeauty is like piety--you cannot run and read it; tranquility and constancy, with, now-a-days, an easy chair, are needed.
Herman MelvilleWe are not a nation, so much as a world; for unless we claim all the world for our sire, like Melchisedec, we are without father or mother.
Herman Melville