Oxford Dictionaries Staff

Lesley Thompson

Herman Melville

Moby-Dick

holly 

Mihai Nueleanu

Aaron Davis

Queequeg, do you see, was a creature in the transition stage—neither caterpillar nor butterfly. He was just enough civilized to show off his outlandishness in the strangest possible manners. His education was not yet completed. He was an undergraduate. If he had not been a small degree civilized, he very probably would not have troubled himself with boots at all; but then, if he had not been still a savage, he never would have dreamt of getting under the bed to put them on.

Bart Veldhuijsen 

It must be remembered, that of all ships, whaling vessels are the most exposed to accidents of all kinds…. Hence, the spare boats, spare spars, and spare lines and harpoons, and spare everything, almost, but a spare captain and duplicate ship.

It must be borne in mind that all this time we have a Sperm Whale’s prodigious head hanging to the Paquod’s side.

Wel een flinke mood voor veel wat ik maak

To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be who have tried.

Moby-Dick quotes

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