| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 38801 |
| QUOTATION: | We are only what we are; not what we would be; nor every thing we hope for. We are but a step in a scale, that reaches further above us than below. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Herman Melville (1819–1891), U.S. author. Mardi (1849), ch. 175, The Writings of Herman Melville, vol. 3, eds. Harrison Hayford, Hershel Parker, and G. Thomas Tanselle (1970).
Spoken by Babbalanja, the philosopher. |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
| WORKS: | Melville Collection. |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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