Herman Melville

American novelist, poet, and writer (1819–1891)

5 quotes in the MindQuotes library.

About

Herman Melville was a major American writer of the American Renaissance. Born in New York City, he went to sea in 1839 and later on a whaler in 1841, experiences that inspired his early bestsellers, Typee and Omoo. His masterpiece, Moby-Dick (1851), explores profound themes but did not achieve commercial success. After a period of critical decline, he worked as a customs inspector in New York (1866-1885). He died in obscurity, but his posthumously published novella Billy Budd (1924) sparked a revival that cemented his literary reputation.

* 1819-08-01 — † 1891-09-28

Major works

Typee (1846)novel
Omoo (1847)novel
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (1851)novel
The Piazza Tales (1856)short story collection
Billy Budd, Sailor (1924)novella

Key milestones

1841Signed onto the whaler Acushnet and jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands.
1851Published Moby-Dick, now regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.
1866Became a customs inspector at the New York docks, a post he held for 19 years.

Themes

Obsession and revengeSea and voyageGood and evilNature and civilizationIsolation and society

Sources: britannica.com · anb.org · id.loc.gov

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”

— Herman Melville

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“I would prefer not to.”

— Herman MelvilleTheme · Philosophy

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“Call me Ishmael.”

— Herman Melville

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“Dream tonight of peacock tails, Diamond fields and spouter whales. Ills are many, blessing few, But dreams tonight will shelter you.”

— Herman MelvilleTheme · Spirituality

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“The consciousness of being deemed dead, is next to the presumable unpleasantness of being so in reality. One feels like his own ghost unlawfully tenanting a defunct carcass.”

— Herman MelvilleTheme · Psychology

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