Moby Dick Quotes

[first lines]

Ishmael: [voiceover] Call me Ishmael.

Movie: Moby Dick
Captain Ahab: Captain Gardner, I seek the white whale, your own son's murderer. I am losing time... Goodbye, and fare thee well, I say. God help you, Captain Gardiner.

Captain Gardiner: God forgive you, Captain Ahab.

Movie: Moby Dick
Captain Ahab: Captain Gardner, I seek the white whale, your own son's murderer. I am losing time... Goodbye, and fare thee well, I say. God help you, Captain Gardiner.

Captain Gardiner: God forgive you, Captain Ahab.

Movie: Moby Dick
Captain Ahab: From hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Ye damned whale.

Movie: Moby Dick
Captain Ahab: I am the Fates' lieutenant. I act under orders.

Movie: Moby Dick
Captain Ahab: I am the Fates' lieutenant. I act under orders.

Movie: Moby Dick
Captain Ahab: I don't give reasons. I give orders!

Movie: Moby Dick
Captain Ahab: By heavens man, we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and fate is the handspike.

Movie: Moby Dick
[Opening narration: "Mighty Mightor"]

Narrator: While on a hunting trip, Tor and his faithful companion Tog rescue an ancient hermit from a Tyrannosarus Rex. Grateful, the old man gives Tor a club which possesses great powers. Tor raises the club and he becomes Mightor, and Tog is transferred into a fire-breathing dragon. Together they become champions of good and the nemesis of evil!

Mightor: MIGHTOR!

Movie: Moby Dick
[Opening narration: "Moby Dick"]

Narrator: When a typhoon suddenly strikes, Tom and Tub are swept miles away from their uncle's vessel "The Sea Explorer" and find themselves in uncharted waters surrounded by menacing sharks. When all seems lost, they are rescued by the giant white whale, Moby Dick. Tom and Tub happily realize they have found a new friend who will protect them as they face the perils of the deep together.

Movie: Moby Dick
Capt. Peleg: What do you know about whaling?

Ishmael: Nothing, sir. But I want to see what whaling is. I want to see the world.

Capt. Peleg: Can't you see the world from where you stand, young man? You want to see what whaling is, do you? Are you man enough to pitch a harpoon down a live whale's throat and jump after it?

Ishmael: Well, I am, sir, if it be absolutely indispensible that I do so.

Capt. Peleg: I'll tell you this: There's death in this business, young man.

Movie: Moby Dick
Capt. Peleg: What do you know about whaling?

Ishmael: Nothing, sir. But I want to see what whaling is. I want to see the world.

Capt. Peleg: Can't you see the world from where you stand, young man? You want to see what whaling is, do you? Are you man enough to pitch a harpoon down a live whale's throat and jump after it?

Ishmael: Well, I am, sir, if it be absolutely indispensible that I do so.

Capt. Peleg: I'll tell you this: There's death in this business, young man.

Movie: Moby Dick
Captain Ahab: I'll follow him around the Horn, and around the Norway maelstrom, and around perdition's flames before I give him up.

Movie: Moby Dick
Captain Ahab: What do you think I am ,the hunchback skipper of a coasting smack.

Captain Ahab: All of life is but a pasteboard mask.

Movie: Moby Dick
Faith Mapple: [to Capt. Ahab] Why... Why, Ahab Creely! You're crying!

Movie: Moby Dick
Father Mapple: Delight is to him who coming to day him down can say, "O Father, mortal or immortal, here I die. I have striven to be Thine, more than to be this world's. Yet this is nothing. I leave eternity to Thee. For what is man, that he should live out the lifetime of his God?"

Movie: Moby Dick
Father Mapple: Delight is to him who coming to day him down can say, O Father, mortal or immortal, here I die. I have striven to be Thine, more than to be this world's. Yet this is nothing. I leave eternity to Thee. For what is man, that he should live out the lifetime of his God?

Movie: Moby Dick
Ishmael: [seeing Moby Dick for the first time] Is it real? Do you see it, too?

The Manxman, a sailor: We all see it. That don't make it real.

Movie: Moby Dick
Ishmael: Ehhhh, you can't fool us; it's the easiest thing in the world for a man to look as if he's got a great secret in him.

Elijah: I have, lad, I have. At sea one day, you'll smell land where there'll be no land, and on that day Ahab will go to his grave, but he'll rise again within the hour. He will rise and beckon. Then all - all save one shall follow. (Slinking away with a smile on his face) Mornin', lads... mornin'. May the heavens bless you.

Movie: Moby Dick
Ishmael: It seems a trifle small for two grown men.

Peter Coffin: Well, if you're going to go whaling, you better get used to that sort of thing. Why, look at that bed. It's the biggest bed in the house. I've soundly slept in that bed many a night. Plenty of room!

Ishmael: Mind you, I'm not complaining, Mr. Coffin, it's just I'd like to know what sort of man I'd be sharing it with.

Peter Coffin: Well, uh, the harpooner I may be able to find someplace else for tonight.

Movie: Moby Dick
Ishmael: It seems a trifle small for two grown men.

Peter Coffin: Well, if you're going to go whaling, you better get used to that sort of thing. Why, look at that bed. It's the biggest bed in the house. I've soundly slept in that bed many a night. Plenty of room!

Ishmael: Mind you, I'm not complaining, Mr. Coffin, it's just I'd like to know what sort of man I'd be sharing it with.

Peter Coffin: Well, uh, the harpooner I may be able to find someplace else for tonight.

Movie: Moby Dick
Ishmael: What the devil's the matter with you?

Queequeg: Ishmael no want go on ship with Queequeg?

Ishmael: No. I mean, yes, of course I do. But you would be better suited to pick out a whaler that's suited for both of us, not I, and I shall certainly not take your money. Queequeg, I fear I must make a confession. I used to be a schoolteacher. Do you know what that is?

Queequeg: Aye. Missionary.

Ishmael: No. Well, not exactly. What I'm trying to say is that I've never jumped a spar in my life.

Queequeg: Ishmael no sailor?

Ishmael: Aye. Me no sailor. It's just that I have this burning desire to go to sea.

Queequeg: Me Ojo savvy. Ishmael pick ship. Ishmael pick ship.

Movie: Moby Dick
Ishmael: What the devil's the matter with you?

Queequeg: Ishmael no want go on ship with Queequeg?

Ishmael: No. I mean, yes, of course I do. But you would be better suited to pick out a whaler that's suited for both of us, not I, and I shall certainly not take your money. Queequeg, I fear I must make a confession. I used to be a schoolteacher. Do you know what that is?

Queequeg: Aye. Missionary.

Ishmael: No. Well, not exactly. What I'm trying to say is that I've never jumped a spar in my life.

Queequeg: Ishmael no sailor?

Ishmael: Aye. Me no sailor. It's just that I have this burning desire to go to sea.

Queequeg: Me Ojo savvy. Ishmael pick ship. Ishmael pick ship.

Movie: Moby Dick
Mr. Flask: [pointing to Ishmael and Queequeg] Look at them two lovebirds.

Movie: Moby Dick
Peter Coffin: You a commadore, then, or a cook?

Ishmael: No, a simple sailor, jumping from spar to spar like a grasshopper in a May meadow. Very much like a slave. But who isn't a slave? Tell me that.

Peter Coffin: I suppose you're going whaling, then?

Ishmael: Aye. Would you be having a room for a simple sailor, Mr. Coffin?

Peter Coffin: Aye, if you've no objection to sharing a blanket with a simple harpooner.

Movie: Moby Dick
Pip: That ain't no whale; that a great white god.

Movie: Moby Dick
Pip: That ain't no whale; that a great white god.

Movie: Moby Dick
Queequeg: I killee!

Peter Coffin: Now, Queequeg, stop that!

Ishmael: Why didn't you tell me that this harpooner I'd be sharing a bed with is a cannibal, for God's sake?

Peter Coffin: Now, listen to me, Queequeg. You savvy me, I savvy you. This lad sleep here in this bed with you. You savvy?

Queequeg: Me savvy plenty.

Movie: Moby Dick
Queequeg: I killee!

Peter Coffin: Now, Queequeg, stop that!

Ishmael: Why didn't you tell me that this harpooner I'd be sharing a bed with is a cannibal, for God's sake?

Peter Coffin: Now, listen to me, Queequeg. You savvy me, I savvy you. This lad sleep here in this bed with you. You savvy?

Queequeg: Me savvy plenty.

Movie: Moby Dick
Queequeg: Ishmael, what is soul?

Ishmael: Soul? Well, that's a difficult question. Do you believe in God? Like a big chief over all men?

Queequeg: Like Ojo?

Ishmael: Well, I reckon so, but bigger than that, like a captain of the sun.

Movie: Moby Dick