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There is nothing so slipperily alluring as sadness we become sad in the first place by having nothing stirring to do we continue in it, because we have found a snug sofa at last.

Herman Melville

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Herman Melville
Age: 72 †
Born: 1819
Born: August 1
Died: 1891
Died: September 28
Art Collector
Essayist
Lecturer
Literary Critic
Novelist
Poet
Sailor
Teacher
Writer
Manhattan borough
New York City
Hermann Melville
Herman Melvill
Place
Alluring
Become
Sad
Firsts
Stirring
Nothing
Sadness
First
Continue
Lasts
Snug
Last
Sofa
Found
Sofas

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Immortality is but ubiquity in time.
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Truth is in things, and not in words.
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Our souls belong to our bodies, not our bodies to our souls.
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A good laugh is a mighty good thing, and rather too scarce a good thing.
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The shadows of things are greater than themselves and the more exaggerated the shadow, the more unlike the substance.
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It is the easiest thing in the world for a man to look as if he had a great secret in him.
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...The silent reminiscence of hardships departed, is sweeter than the presence of delight.
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My means are sane, my motives and my object mad.
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He, who, in view of its inconsistencies, says of human nature the same that, in view of its contrasts, is said of the divine nature, that it is past finding out, thereby evinces a better appreciation of it than he who, by always representing it in a clear light, leaves it to be inferred that he clearly knows all about it.
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As in digging for precious metals in the mines, much earthy rubbish has first to be troublesomely handled and thrown out so, in digging in one's soul for the fine gold of genius, much dullness and common-place is first brought to light.
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Book! You lie there the fact is, you books must know your places. You'll do to give us the bare words and facts, but we come in to supply the thoughts.
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Familiarity with danger makes a brave man braver, but less daring. Thus with seamen: he who goes the oftenest round Cape Horn goes the most circumspectly.
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It is hard to be finite upon an infinite subject, and all subjects are infinite.
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We may have civilized bodies and yet barbarous souls.
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When a companion's heart of itself overflows, the best one can do is to do nothing.
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An utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward.
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He seemed to take to me quite as naturally and unbiddenly as I to him and when our smoke was over, he pressed his forehead against mine, clasped me round the waist, and said that henceforth we were married.
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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.
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At my years, and with my disposition, or rather, constitution, one gets to care less and less for everything except downright goodfeeling. Life is so short, and so ridiculous and irrational (from a certain point of view) that one knows not what to make of it, unless--well, finish the sentence for yourself.
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It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation. He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great. Failure is the true test of greatness.
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