Herman Melville

What plays the mischief with the truth is that men will insist upon the universal application of a temporary feeling or opinion.

I try all things; I achieve what I can.

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and along these fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back as effects.

There is a catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest canyons, and soar out again, becoming invisible in sunny places. And even if he forever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains, so that even in his lowest swoop, the mountain eagle is still higher that other birds upon the plane. Even though they soar.

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

We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.

The eyes are the gateway to the soul.