"Old age is always wakeful as if, the longer linked with life, the less man has to do with aught that looks like death."

Death

Create & Download Quote Image

Select Template

Insight & Reflection

This reflection on death by Herman Melville resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in death is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About Herman Melville

Herman Melville was an American writer of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851), Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia, and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was not well known to the public, but 1919, the centennial of his birth, was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick would eventually be considered one of the Great American Novels.

More quotes by Herman Melville  ’
Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by Herman Melville

"To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living."

Read more  ’

"There is one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath."

Read more  ’

More about Death

View all Death quotes  ’