Name: The Happy Failure
Author: Herman Melville

Quotes from The Happy Failure (Herman Melville)

Herman Melville, The Happy Failure (1854)

“ Leaving the woeful box where we had dropped it, Yorpy and I helped the old man into the skiff and silently pulled from Quash Isle.
How swiftly the current now swept us down! How hardly before had we striven to stem it! I thought of my poor uncle's saying, not an hour gone by, about the universal drift of the mass of humanity toward utter oblivion.
"Boy!" said my uncle at last, lifting his head. I looked at him earnestly, and was gladdened to see that the terrible blight of his face had almost departed.
"Boy, there's not much left in an old world for an old man to invent." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Herman Melville, The Happy Failure (1854)

“ It looked like a huge nest of anacondas and adders.
"Now then, Yorpy," said my uncle, all animation, and flushed with the foretaste of glory, "do you stand this side, and be ready to tip when I give the word. And do you, youngster, stand ready to do as much for the other side. Mind, don't budge it the fraction of a barley-corn till I say the word. All depends on a proper adjustment." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Herman Melville, The Happy Failure (1854)

“ Crouching in the water in complete secrecy, beneath the bushes and among the tall flags, my uncle now stealthily produced a hammer and wrench from one of his enormous pockets, and presently tapped the box. But the sound alarmed him.
"Yorpy," he whispered, "go you off to the right, behind the bushes, and keep watch. If you see any one coming, whistle softly. Youngster, you do the same to the left." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Herman Melville, The Happy Failure (1854)

“ I will be careful as a lady's tweezers."
"I s'ant life de heavy pox," growled old Yorpy, "till de wort pe given; no fear o' dat."
"Oh, boy," said my uncle now, upturning his face devotionally, while a really noble gleam irradiated his gray eyes, locks, and wrinkles; "Oh, boy! this, this is the hour which for ten long years has, in the prospect, sustained me through all my painstaking obscurity. Fame will be the sweeter because it comes at the last ; the truer, because it comes to an old man like me, not to a boy like you. Sustainer! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Herman Melville, The Happy Failure (1854)

“ Seeing my good uncle so far mollified now as to be quite self-complacent, I ventured another remark.
"This is a rather severe, hot pull, dear uncle."
"Glory is not to be gained, youngster, without pulling hard for it—against the stream, too, as we do now. The natural tendency of man, in the mass, is to go down with the universal current into oblivion." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Herman Melville, The Happy Failure (1854)

“ Quick, let me go to the further end of the boat !"
"Sit still, you simpleton!" cried my uncle again. "Jump in, Yorpy, and hold on to the box like grim death while I shove off. Carefully! carefully! you dunderheaded black! Mind t'other side of the box, I say! Do you mean to destroy the box?"
"Duyvel take te pox !" muttered old Yorpy, who was a sort of Dutch African. "De pox has been my cuss for de ten long 'ear."
"Now, then, we're off—take an oar, youngster ; you, Yorpy, clinch the box fast. Here we go now. Carefully! carefully! You, Yorpy, stop shaking the box ! Easy ! there's a big snag. ”

Herman Melville

Summary

Quotes from The Happy Failure (Herman Melville)

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Herman Melville

Summary

Quotes from The Happy Failure (Herman Melville)

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Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature