“For God's sake, be economical with your lamps and candles! not a gallon you burn, but at least one drop of man's blood was spilled for it.”

Source: Moby-Dick or, The Whale

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "For God's sake, be economical with your lamps and candles! not a gallon you burn, but at least one drop of man's blood …" by Herman Melville?
Herman Melville photo
Herman Melville 144
American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet 1818–1891

Related quotes

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali photo

“I won't accept that another drop of blood of a Tunisian be spilled.”

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (1936–2019) Tunisian politician

Ordering Tunisian troops to stop firing on protesters, unless they attack. (January 2011) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12187084

Miguel ángel Asturias photo
James Howell photo

“Burn not thy fingers to snuff another man's candle.”

James Howell (1594–1666) Anglo-Welsh historian and writer

English Proverbs (1659)

George S. Patton photo

“A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.”

George S. Patton (1885–1945) United States Army general

Letter (3 March 1944), later published in War As I Knew It (1947) Similar expressions were also used in his famous "Speech to the Third Army" in June 1944. The phrase is similar to one attributed to Erwin Rommel, "Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, and brains saves both", and to an even older one by August Willich: "A drop of sweat on the drill ground will save many drops of blood on the battlefield" from The Army: Standing Army or National Army? (1866)

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg photo

“Man loves company — even if it is only that of a small burning candle.”

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) German scientist, satirist

K 40
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook K (1789-1793)

François Fénelon photo

“All wars are civil ones; for it is still man spilling his own blood, tearing out his own bowels.”

François Fénelon (1651–1715) Catholic bishop

Toutes les guerres sont civiles; car c'est toujours l'homme contre l'homme qui répand son propre sang, qui déchire ses propres entrailles.
Dialogues des morts, ch. 17, cited from De l'éducation des filles, Dialogues des morts et opuscules divers (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1857) p. 149; translation from Mr. Elphingston (trans.) Dialogues of the Dead, Together with Some Fable Composed for the Education of a Prince (Glasgow: Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1754) vol. 1, p. 87. (1700).

John Prine photo

“I can see the fire burning
Burning right behind your eyes
I can see the fire burning, baby
Burning right behind your eyes
You must've swallowed a candle
Or some other kind of surprise.”

John Prine (1946–2020) American country singer/songwriter

"Daddy’s Little Pumpkin" (Prine, Pat McLaughlin)
Song lyrics, The Missing Years (1991)

“A drop of honey can catch more flies than a gallon of gall.”

Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), p. 143 (in 1998 edition)

Eminem photo

“I walked into a gunfight with a knife to kill you, and cut you so fast when your blood spilled it was still blue.”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"Still Don't Give A Fuck" (Track 20).
1990s, The Slim Shady LP (1999)

Borís Pasternak photo

“Snow, snow over the whole land
across all boundaries.
The candle burned on the table,
the candle burned.”

As translated by Richard McKane (1985)
Doctor Zhivago (1957)

Related topics