Happy 200th birthday, Herman Melville! Here are some quotes from his writing.
“It is—or seems to be—a wise sort of thing, to realise that all that happens to a man in this life is only by way of joke, especially his misfortunes, if he have them. And it is also worth bearing in mind, that the joke is passed round pretty liberally & impartially, so that not very many are entitled to fancy that they in particular are getting the worst of it.”
“You must have plenty of sea-room to tell the truth in.”
“It is hard to be finite upon an infinite subject, and all subjects are infinite.”
“The drama’s done. Why then here does any one step forth?—Because one did survive the wreck.”
“It is not down in any map; true places never are.”
“There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness.”
“A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.”
“All Profound things, and emotions of things are preceded and attended by Silence.”
“Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance.”
“Ah, happiness courts the light, so we deem the world is gay, but misery hides aloof, so we deem that misery there is none.”
John Madera's fiction may be found in Conjunctions, Opium Magazine, The &Now Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing, and many other journals. His criticism may be found in American Book Review, Bookforum, The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Rain Taxi: Review of Books, The Believer, The Brooklyn Rail, and many other venues. Recipient of an M.F.A. in Literary Arts from Brown University, John Madera lives in New York City, where he runs Rhizomatic and manages and edits Big Other.