Updated October 19, 2025
Working through Moby Dick. I’m struck by the depth of Melville’s descriptions and breadth of topics. He weaves together excellent storytelling with philosophy and deep knowledge of whales and their hunters. The writing is dense and the tale lengthy but the chapters are short making it easier (not easy!) to work one’s way through. One passage struck me with its stoic and Christian tones:
It does seem to me, that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong individual vitality, and the rare virtue of thick walls, and the rare virtue of interior spaciousness. Oh, man! admire and mold thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter’s, and like the great whale, retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own.
Published 174 years ago and still relevant in 2025.
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