Captain Ahab is a character from Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick. He is a passionate and obsessive whaling captain who is determined to find and kill the white whale Moby-Dick. Captain Ahab is a complex man driven by his ambition and his obsession to exact revenge on the great white whale. He is a complex character and his quotes reflect his determination, his passion, and his single-mindedness. His quotes are often dark and filled with a sense of doom, but they also reflect his ambition and courage. Captain Ahab’s quotes are a reminder of the power of determination and ambition, no matter how misguided it may be.
63 Best Captain Ahab Quotes
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“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely – having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs – commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“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 that have tried it”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Ignorance is the parent of fear.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event – in the living act, the undoubted deed – there, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Oh, Grass! Grass! Grass! — how I long to walk upon thy soft and verdant carpeting! But no more; I have finished the perusal of thy history.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“And this is why I’m mad. Oh, it’s plain enough. My chest feels all fire inside when I think of it. I can keep still in one way—I can keep still and bear a lot—but if my brooding could do any good, I would brood for ever.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Oh! thou clear spirit of clear fire, whom on these seas I as Persian once did worship, till in the sacramental act so burned by thee, that to this hour I bear the scar; I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I now know that thy right worship is defiance.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“For that strange spectacle observable in all sperm whales dying—the turning sunwards of the head, and so expiring—that strange spectacle, beheld of such a placid evening, somehow to Ahab conveyed a wondrousness unknown before.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“To the last, I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart, I stab at thee; for hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“You can’t dip your foot in the same river twice, for the water that was there, is gone and new water has come in its place.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“My soul is more than matched; she’s overmanned; and by a madman!”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“I’d strike the sun if it insulted me.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“This is the reason why I’m mad. Oh, it’s plain enough. My heart is like a furnace when I think about it. I can remain still in one way—I can stay calm and suffer a lot—but if my brooding could do any good I would stay brooding forever.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Aye, aye! I see the far-offness of my fate.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“All my means are sane, my motive and my object mad.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“No, no. You can’t feel for what you can’t understand.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“It’s a mutual, joint-stock world, in all meridians.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“I have heard of Moby Dick—but it was not Moby Dick that fetched me here.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“I cannot now think of the open sky, without gazing on thee in the same.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“I’ll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before I give him up.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Though both fates are delusive, I will have one or the other; and I will take that one, which is the least likely to take me.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“By Heaven, man, we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and Fate is the handspike.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“And, in the end, this is what must be done. Take away the thing that I have; my life, my soul, my fortune and my fame.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“I am a man whom Fortune hath cruelly scratched.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“From hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Give me the oar. The wind that made me can unmake me.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“I will chase him ‘round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round Perdition’s flames before I give him up.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“To the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Oh, thou clear spirit, of thy fire thou madest me, and like a true child of fire, I breathe it back to thee.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“But Ahab is a blessed augury to me, since all my means are sane, my motive and my object mad.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Oh, Ahab! What shall be grand in thee, it must needs be plucked at from the skies, and dived for in the deep, and featured in the unbodied air!”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Oh, my son! My son! I would have had thee still with me; but now thou art gone, and I am here.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Oh, now, ever thus, from childhood’s hour, I’ve seen my fondest hopes decay.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“I’ll drink the sunbeam in a draught, and whirl the Milky Way around my glass.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“I would not have thee linger in thy pain. Oh, not one jot! It is an honest ambition. It is a noble thing to do.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Ah, soul! Seest thou not God’s purpose from the first? The seed of Wisdom did I sow, and this was the harvest I reaped.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“My heart is like a furnace when I think about it.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Aye, aye, I see the far-offness of my fate.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“I’d strike the sun if it insulted me.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“From beneath the margin of the sea, where it tumbles in among the rocks and crags, I heard a song.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Let the great gods, that made me, take all back again!”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Though both fates are delusive, I will have one or the other; and I will take that one, which is the least likely to take me.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Oh, grass! Grass! Grass! How I long to walk upon thy soft and verdant carpeting!”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“No, no. You can’t feel for what you can’t understand.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“It’s a mutual, joint-stock world, in all meridians.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Give me the oar. The wind that made me can unmake me.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Oh, thou clear spirit, of thy fire thou madest me, and like a true child of fire, I breathe it back to thee.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“And, in the end, this is what must be done. Take away the thing that I have; my life, my soul, my fortune and my fame.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Aye, aye! I see the far-offness of my fate.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Oh, now, ever thus, from childhood’s hour, I’ve seen my fondest hopes decay.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“I’ll drink the sunbeam in a draught, and whirl the Milky Way around my glass.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“I would not have thee linger in thy pain. Oh, not one jot! It is an honest ambition. It is a noble thing to do.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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“Ah, soul! Seest thou not God’s purpose from the first? The seed of Wisdom did I sow, and this was the
Conclusion
In conclusion, the quotes of Captain Ahab from the classic novel Moby Dick serve as a reminder of the power of ambition and the dangers of obsession. They also offer a window into the complex character of Ahab, as a man driven by both his dreams and his demons. Whether it’s his famous “I’d strike the sun if it insulted me” or his more introspective “I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote,” the words of Ahab offer a timeless insight into the nature of man.
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