In time of peril, like the needle to the loadstone, obedience, irrespective of rank, generally flies to him who is best fitted to command.

Is he mad? Anyway there's something on his mind, as sure as there must be something on a deck when it cracks.

Give me a condor's quill! Give me Vesuvius crater for an inkstand!

In our man-of-war world, Life comes in at one gangway and Death goes overboard at the other. Under the man-of-war scourge, cursesmix with tears; and the sigh and the sob furnish the bass to the shrill octave of those who laugh to drown buried griefs of their own.

One of the coolest and wisest hours a man has, is just after he awakes in the morning.

Leviathan is not the biggest fish; — I have heard of Krakens.

The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails whereon my soul is grooved to run