There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.

Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love -- and to put its trust in life.

It is a maudlin and indecent verity that comes out through the strength of wine.

Gossip is what no one claims to like, but everybody enjoys.

Some great men owe most of their greatness to the ability of detecting in those they destine for their tools the exact quality of strength that matters for their work.

A man's most open actions have a secret side to them.

It is when we try to grapple with another man's intimate need that we perceive how incomprehensible, wavering, and misty are the beings that share with us the sight of the stars and the warmth of the sun.

A man's real life is that accorded to him in the thoughts of other men by reason of respect or natural love.

I have wrestled with death. It is the most unexciting contest you can imagine. It takes place in an impalpable grayness, with nothing underfoot, with nothing around, without spectators, without clamor, without glory, without the great desire of victory, without the great fear of defeat.

The East Wind, an interloper in the dominions of Westerly Weather, is an impassive-faced tyrant with a sharp poniard held behind his back for a treacherous stab.