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.

And the visible world seems formed in love, the invisible spheres were formed in fright.

That mortal man who hath more of joy than sorrow in him, that mortal man cannot be true--not true, or undeveloped.

There never was a great man yet who spent all his life inland.

This divineness had that in it which, though commanding worship, at the same time enforced a certain nameless terror.

Whatever has made, or does make, or may make music, should be held sacred as the golden bridle-bit of the Shah of Persia's horse,and the golden hammer, with which his hoofs are shod.

Aye, aye! and I'll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up.