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Queequeg
The “monomaniacal” captain of the Pequod, Ahab is a brooding, proud, solitary figure, deathly angry that the monster Moby Dick has eaten his leg. Ahab vows revenge on the animal, even though others, like Starbuck, warn him that no “revenge” is possible against a “dumb animal.” Ahab admits that he is not just hunting Moby Dick, but “whatever lies behind” the whale, and his quest becomes a kind of metaphor for the human condition, battling for meaning and life in a world and against forces that are at once incomprehensible and unconquerable. Ahab is eventually killed by his own harpoon-line, in an attempt to harpoon Moby Dick before the whale smashes into the Pequod.
Ahab Quotes in Moby-Dick
The Moby-Dick quotes below are all either spoken by Ahab or refer to Ahab. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 36
Quotes
It’s a white whale, I say . . . a white whale. Skin your eyes for him, men; look sharp for white water; if ye see but a bubble, sing out.
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Chapter 109
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Oh, Life! Here I am, proud as a Greek god, and yet standing debtor to this block-head for a bone to stand on. Cursed be that mortal interindebtedness which will not do away with ledgers. I would be free as air; and I’m down in the whole world’s books.
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Chapter 133
Quotes
Men, this gold is mine, for I earned it; but I shall let it abide here till the White Whale is dead; and then, whosoever of ye first raises him, upon the day he shall be killed, this gold is that man’s, and if on that day I shall again raise him, then, ten times its sum shall be divided among all of ye! Away now!
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Ahab Quotes in Moby-Dick
The Moby-Dick quotes below are all either spoken by Ahab or refer to Ahab. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 36
Quotes
It’s a white whale, I say . . . a white whale. Skin your eyes for him, men; look sharp for white water; if ye see but a bubble, sing out.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 109
Quotes
Oh, Life! Here I am, proud as a Greek god, and yet standing debtor to this block-head for a bone to stand on. Cursed be that mortal interindebtedness which will not do away with ledgers. I would be free as air; and I’m down in the whole world’s books.
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Chapter 133
Quotes
Men, this gold is mine, for I earned it; but I shall let it abide here till the White Whale is dead; and then, whosoever of ye first raises him, upon the day he shall be killed, this gold is that man’s, and if on that day I shall again raise him, then, ten times its sum shall be divided among all of ye! Away now!
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