Bartleby the Scrivener Quotes

“I would prefer not to.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“Ah, happiness courts the light so we deem the world is gay. But misery hides aloof so we deem that misery there is none.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street

“My first emotions had been those of pure melancholy and sincerest pity; but just in proportion as the forlornness of Bartleby grew and grew to my imagination, did that same melancholy merge into fear, that pity into repulsion. So true it is, and so terrible too, that up to a certain point the thought or sight of misery enlists our best affections; but, in certain special cases, beyond that point it does not. They err who would assert that invariably this is owing to the inherent selfishness of the human heart. It rather proceeds from a certain hopelessness of remedying excessive and organic ill. To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain. And when at last it is perceived that such pity cannot lead to effectual succor, common sense bids the soul rid of it. What I saw that morning persuaded me that the scrivener was the victim of innate and incurable disorder. I might give alms to his body; but his body did not pain him; it was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could not reach.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“At present I would prefer not to be a little reasonable,' was his mildly cadaverous reply.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“Preferiría no hacerlo”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“So true it is, and so terrible too, that up to a certain point the thought or sight of misery enlists our best affections; but, in certain special cases, beyond that point it does not. They err who would assert that invariably this is owing to the inherent selfishness of the human heart. It rather proceeds from a certain hopelessness of remedying excessive and organic ill. To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain. And when at last it is perceived that such pity cannot lead to effectual succor, common sense bids the soul rid of it.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“But thus it often is, that the constant friction of illiberal minds wears out at last the best resolves of the more generous.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“Will you, or will you not, quit me?' I now demanded in a sudden passion, advancing close to him.
'I would prefer not to quit you', he replied, gently emphasizing the not.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“Imagine my surprise, nay, my consternation, when without moving from his privacy, Bartleby, in a singular mild, firm voice, replied, “I would prefer not to.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“لكنه يبدو وحيدًا، وحيدًا تمامًا في الكون، قطعة من حطام سفينة في عرض الأطلنطي”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“As minhas primeiras emoções tinham sido a melancolia mais pura e a compaixão mais sincera, mas na mesma proporção em que o desamparo de Bartleby crescia na minha fantasia, aquela melancolia se transformava em medo, e a compaixão, em repulsa. É tão verdadeiro e ao mesmo tempo tão terrivel o fato de que, ao vermos ou presenciarmos a miséria, os nossos melhores sentimentos são despertados até um cer
to ponto; mas, em certos casos especiais, não passam disso. Erram os que afirmam que é devido apenas ao egoísmo inerente ao coração humano. Na verdade, provém de uma certa impotência em remediar um mal excessivo e orgânico. Para uma pessoa sensivel, a piedade é quase sempre uma dor. Quando afinal percebe que tal piedade não significa um socorro eficaz, o bom senso compele a alma a desvencilhar-se dela. O que vi naquela manhã convenceu-me de que o escrivão era vítima de um mal inato e incurável. Eu podia dar esmolas ao seu corpo, mas o seu corpo não lhe doía; era a sua alma que sofria, e ela estava fora do meu alcance.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“La felicidad busca la luz, por eso juzgamos que el mundo es alegre; pero el dolor se esconde en la soledad, por eso juzgamos que el dolor no existe.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“One of the coolest and wisest hours a man has, is just after he awakes in the morning.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street

“I remembered the bright silks and sparkling faces I had seen that day, in gala trim, swan-like sailing down the Mississippi of Broadway; and I contrasted them with the pallid copyist, and thought to myself, Ah, happiness courts the light, so we deem the world is gay; but misery hides aloof, so we deem that misery there is none.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“But indeed, nature herself seemed to have been his vintner, and at his birth charged him so thoroughly with an irritable, brandy-like disposition, that all subsequent potations were needless.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“The truth was, I suppose, that a man of so small an income, could not afford to sport such a lustrous face and a lustrous coat at one and the same time.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“Gözümü dikip baktım suratına. Suratı sıska ve dingindi; gri gözleri de donuk ve sakin. Hiçbir heyecan izi seçilmiyordu. Tavrında en ufak bir tedirginlik, öfke, sinir ya da küstahlık olsa, ya da şöyle söyleyeyim, olağan bir insanî ifade olsa, hiç durmaz yaka paça kovardım ofisimden. Ama bu durumda bunu yapmak, Paris işi alçıdan Cicero büstümü kapı dışarı etmek gibi bir şey olacaktı.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain. And when at last it is perceived that such pity cannot lead to effectual succor, common sense bids the soul rid of it.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story Of Wall-Street

“I believe that this wise and blessed frame of mind would have continued with me, had it not been for the unsolicited and uncharitable remarks obtruded upon me by my professional friends who visited the rooms. But thus it often is, that the constant friction of illiberal minds wears out at last the best resolves of the more generous.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby, The Scrivener. A Story of Wall-Street

“The report was this: that Bartleby had been a subordinate clerk in the Dead Letter Office at Washington, from which he had been suddenly removed by a change in the administration. When I think over this rumor, I cannot adequately express the emotions which seize me.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story Of Wall-Street

“Σ'ένα ευαίσθητο ον ο οίκτος γίνεται συχνά πόνος. Και όταν κάποτε κατανοήσει κανείς ότι παρόμοιος οίκτος δεν αρκεί για να βοηθήσει αποτελεσματικά, τότε παρεμβαίνει η λογική επιτάσσοντας την ψυχή ν'απαλλαγεί από παρόμοιο οίκτο.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“So true it is, and so terrible too, that up to a certain point the thought or sight of misery enlists our best affections; but, in certain special cases, beyond that point it does not. They err who would assert that invariably this is owing to the inherent selfishness of the human heart. It rather proceeds from a certain hopelessness of remedying excessive and organic ill. To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain. And when at last it is perceived that such pity cannot lead to effectual succor, common sense bids the soul be rid of it.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“Non di rado accade che, quando un uomo si trova contrariato in modo inconsueto e violentemente assurdo, egli cominci a nutrir dubbi sulle sue più salde convinzioni. Egli comincia, per così dire, a dubitare vagamente che, per strana che la cosa possa sembrare, la ragione e la giustizia si trovino dall'altra parte.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby lo scrivano - Bartleby the scrivener

“Bartleby in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, “I would prefer not to.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“do nothing in the office; why should he stay there? In plain fact, he had now become a millstone to me, not only useless as a necklace, but afflictive to bear. Yet I was sorry for him. I”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street

“But he answered not a word; like the last column of some ruined temple, he remained standing mute and solitary in the middle of the otherwise deserted room.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street