Herman Melville — American Novelist born on August 01, 1819, died on September 28, 1891

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet from the American Renaissance period. Most of his writings were published between 1846 and 1857. Best known for his sea adventure Typee and his whaling novel Moby-Dick, he was almost forgotten during the last thirty years of his life. Melville's writing draws on his experience at sea as a common sailor, exploration of literature and philosophy, and engagement in the contradictions of American society in a period of rapid change. The main characteristic of his style is probably pervasive allusion, reflecting his written sources. Melville's way of adapting what he read for his own new purposes, scholar Stanley T. Williams wrote, "was a transforming power comparable to Shakespeare's"... (wikipedia)

A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.
I am, as I am; whether hideous, or handsome, depends upon who is made judge.
There is one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes his whole universe for a vast practical joke.
We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.