“With no power to annul the elemental evil in him, though readily enough he could hide it; apprehending the good, but powerless to be it; a nature like Claggart’s, surcharged with energy as such natures almost invariably are, what recourse is left to it but to recoil upon itself and, like the scorpion for which the Creator alone is responsible, act out to the end the part allotted it.”

“And the drawing near of Death, which alike levels all, alike impresses all with a last revelation, which only an author from the dead could adequately tell.”

“and yet a child’s utter innocence is but its blank ignorance, and the innocence more or less wanes as intelligence waxes.”

“...flight from tyranny does not of itself insure a safe asylum, far less a happy home.”

“Often ill comes from the good, as good from ill.”

“There are times when even the most potent governor must wink at transgression, in order to preserve the laws inviolate for the future.”

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.”

“A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.”

“Art is the objectification of feeling.”

“In this world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers.”

“He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great.”