A thing may be incredible and still be true; sometimes it is incredible because it is true.
Herman MelvilleThe Marquesan girls dance all over; not only do their feet dance, but their arms, hands, fingers, ay, their very eyes seem to dance in their heads.
Herman MelvilleIt is not for man to follow the trail of truth too far, since by so doing he entirely loses the directing compass of his mind.
Herman MelvilleBut the past is passed; why moralize upon it? Forget it. See, yon bright son has forgotten it all, and the blue sea, and the blue sky; these have turned over new leaves. Because they have no memory . . . because they are not human.
Herman MelvilleAll experience teaches that, whenever there is a great national establishment, employing large numbers of officials, the public must be reconciled to support many incompetent men; for such is the favoritism and nepotism always prevailing in the purlieus of these establishments, that some incompetent persons are always admitted, to the exclusion of many of the worthy.
Herman Melville