Wag the world how it will, Leaves must be green in Spring.

Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.

I do not think I have any uncharitable prejudice against the rattlesnake, still, I should not like to be one.

All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a philosopher, though seated in the whale-boat, you would not at heart feel one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with a poker, and not a harpoon, by your side.

We cannibals must help these Christians.

Queequeg was a native of Kokovoko, an island far away to the West and South. It is not down in any map; true places never are.

To be a born American citizen seems a guarantee against pauperism; and this, perhaps, springs from the virtue of a vote.