But
even Solomon, he says, “the man that wandereth out of
the way of understanding shall remain” (i.e. even while
living) “in the congregation of the dead.” Give
not thyself up, then, to fire, lest it invert thee, deaden thee;
as for the time it did me. There is a wisdom that is woe; but
there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle
in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges,
and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny
spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that
gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop
the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the
plain, even though they soar. - Herman Melville - Moby Dick;
or, The Whale (chapter 96/The Try-Works) |