“for it is often to be observed of the shallower men, that they are the very last to despond. It is the glory of the bladder that nothing can sink it; it is the reproach of a box of treasure, that once overboard it must drown”

“For in tremendous extremities human souls are like drowning men; well enough they know they are in peril; well enough they know the causes of that peril;--nevertheless, the sea is the sea, and these drowning men do drown.”

“I promise nothing complete; because any human thing supposed to be complete, must for that very reason infallibly be faulty.”

“So, when on one side you hoist in Locke's head, you go over that way; but now, on the other side, hoist in Kant's and you come back again; but in very poor plight. Thus, some minds for ever keep trimming boat. Oh, ye foolish! throw all these thunder-heads overboard, and then you will float light and right.”

“There is nothing namable but that some men will, or undertake to, do it for pay.”

“Are not half our lives spent in reproaches for foregone actions, of the true nature and consequences of which we were wholly ignorant at the time?”

“What do ye do when ye see a whale, men?”“Sing out for him!” was the impulsive rejoinder from a score of clubbed voices.“Good!” cried Ahab, with a wild approval in his tones; observing the hearty animation into which his unexpected question had so magnetically thrown them.“And what do ye next, men?”“Lower away, and after him!”“And what tune is it ye pull to, men?”“A dead whale or a stove boat!”