Moby Dick

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oh,--Impiety and blasphemy to hunt him more!"

"Starbuck, of late I've felt strangely moved to thee; ever since that
hour we both saw--thou know'st what, in one another's eyes. But in this
matter of the whale, be the front of thy face to me as the palm of this
hand--a lipless, unfeatured blank. Ahab is for ever Ahab, man. This
whole act's immutably decreed. 'Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion
years before this ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates' lieutenant; I act
under orders. Look thou, underling! that thou obeyest mine.--Stand round
me, men. Ye see an old man cut down to the stump; leaning on a shivered
lance; propped up on a lonely foot. 'Tis Ahab--his body's part; but
Ahab's soul's a centipede, that moves upon a hundred legs. I feel
strained, half stranded, as ropes that tow dismasted frigates in a gale;
and I may look so. But ere I break, yell hear me crack; and till ye hear
THAT, know that Ahab's hawser tows his purpose yet. Believe ye, men, in
the things called omens? Then laugh aloud, and cry encore! For ere they
drown, drowning things will twice rise to the surface; then rise again,