Herman Melville

“ Think there to bide, like one detained
Half-way adown the slippery glacier caught? ⁠115
Was honesty his, with lore and art
Not to be fooled?--But if in vain
One tries to comprehend a man,
How think to sound God's deeper heart! ”

“ Much too there is, I grant,
Which well might Solomon's wisdom daunt--
Much that we mark. Nevertheless,
Were it a paradox to confess ⁠80
A book's a man? If this be so,
Books be but part of nature. ”