Mystery is in the morning, and mystery in the night, and the beauty of mystery is everywhere; but still the plain truth remains, that mouth and purse must be filled.
Herman MelvilleStrange as it may seem, there is nothing in which a young and beautiful female appears to more advantage than in the art of smoking.
Herman MelvilleWhen the passage "All men are born free and equal," when that passage was being written were not some of the signers legalised owners of slaves?
Herman MelvilleWhy did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.
Herman Melville