And how nobly it raises our conceit of the mighty, misty monster, to behold him solemnly sailing through a calm tropical sea; his vast, mild head overhung by a canopy of vapor, engendered by his incommunicable contemplations, and that vapor --as you will sometimes see it --glorified by a rainbow, as if Heaven itself had put its seal upon his thoughts. For, d'ye see, rainbows do not visit the clear air; they only irradiate vapor.
And so, through all the thick mists of the dim doubts in my mind, divine intuitions now and then shoot, enkindling my fog with a heavenly ray. And for this I thank God; for all have doubts; many deny; but doubts or denials, few along with them, have intuitions. Doubts of all things earthly, and intuitions of some things heavenly; this combination makes neither believer nor infidel, but makes a man who regards them both with equal eye.
1 Comment:
Wow.
This is exactly why my favorite authors are dead. If people are still reading their books long after the worms have eaten the worms who feated on their grey matter - well there is probably good reason why.
Hope you dig the Melville quotes.
By the way - Sacramento Library has a downloadable audio book program. It “lends” you audio books – you download them, transfer to ipod, burn, whatever and the files “expire” 3 weeks later – you can renew them if necessary.
Very cool.
All you need is a library card / online account.
http://download.saclibrary.org/FAF88AE9-3DE7-494D-A646-E8E28BBCF8E8/10/302/en/Default.htm
If it were not for this program – I would never make it as far as I have in Moby Dick – since reading a really long had book is incompatible with toddlers.
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