“Though it lash the shallows that line the beach,
Afar from the great sea-deeps,
There is never a storm whose might can reach
Where the vast leviathan sleeps.
Like a mighty thought in a mighty mind
In the clear cold depths he swims;
Whilst above him the pettiest form of his kind
With a dash o'er the surface skims.”

Prelude to the amber whale.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Though it lash the shallows that line the beach, Afar from the great sea-deeps, There is never a storm whose might ca…" by John Boyle O'Reilly?
John Boyle O'Reilly photo
John Boyle O'Reilly 12
Irish-born poet and novelist 1844–1890

Related quotes

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester photo
Hans Christian Andersen photo
James Thomson (B.V.) photo
John Ruskin photo

“I do not believe that ever any building was truly great, unless it had mighty masses, vigorous and deep, of shadow mingled with its surface.”

Source: The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849), Chapter III: The Lamp of Power, section 13.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo
Herman Melville photo

“To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be who have tried it.”

Herman Melville (1818–1891) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet

Source: Moby-Dick or, The Whale

Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“And all o'er heaven is that clear blue
The stars so love to wander through.
They're rising from the silent deep,
Like bright eyes opening after sleep.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

The Lost Pleiad
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)

Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“They say that man is mighty,
He governs land and sea”

William Ross Wallace (1819–1881) American poet

What rules the World? (also known by The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is The Hand That Rules The World) reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919).
Context: They say that man is mighty,
He governs land and sea;
He wields a mighty scepter
O'er lesser powers than he;
But a mighty power and stronger,
Man from his throne hath hurled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

Related topics