"For there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men."

'"Ha, Ishmael,' muttered I, backing out, 'Wretched entertainment at the sign of "The Trap!'"

"Other poets have warbled the praises of the soft eye of the antelope, and the lovely plumage of the bird that never alights; less...

"For all have doubts; many deny; but doubts or denials, few along with them, have intuitions."

"For do you see, rainbows do not visit the clear air; they only irradiate vapor."

"But then again, what has the whale to say?"

"Perseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnu! there's a member-roll for you! What club but the whale-man's can head off like that?"

"It is not necessary that we consider Jonah as tombed in the whale's belly but as temporarily lodged in some part of his mouth. And this...

"Any man may kill a snake, but only a Perseus, a St. George, a Coffin, have the heart in them to march boldly up to a whale."

"There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method."

"I rejoice in my spine, as in the firm audacious staff of that flag which I fling half out to the world."

"I would rather feel your spine than your skull, whoever you are. A thin joist of a spine never yet upheld a full and noble soul."