“It is not down on any map; true places never are.”
— Moby-Dick (1851)
Ishmael on the island of Kokovoko. Melville's claim that the most real places — internal, spiritual, emotional — resist cartography.
Author Quotes
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. His best known works include Typee, a romantic account of his experiences in Polynesian life, and his whaling novel Moby Dick.
“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.”
— Moby-Dick (1851)
Stubb's defiant cheer in the face of the unknown. Melville gives the second mate a philosophy of reckless courage — if fate is unavoidable, meet it with laughter.
“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.”
— Moby-Dick (1851)
Ishmael's confession in the opening chapter. Melville equates restlessness with being alive — the urge toward the unknown is not a flaw but a defining trait.