{ "type": "topic", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy", "heading": "Quotes about melancholy", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy.md", "quotes_count": 22, "authors_count": 12, "parent": { "name": "sadness", "slug": "sadness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sadness", "heading": "Quotes about sadness" }, "children": [], "quotes": [ { "id": "6d2c61db-eaa4-4a75-a0de-99e7d5eb6a3e", "slug": "in-addition-to-my-numerous", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/soren-kierkegaard/eitheror/in-addition-to-my-numerous", "text": "In addition to my numerous other acquaintances I have still one more intimate friend — my melancholy. In the midst of pleasure, in the midst of work, he beckons to me, calls me aside, even though I remain present bodily. My melancholy is the most faithful sweetheart I have had — no wonder that I return the love!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sören Kierkegaard", "slug": "soren-kierkegaard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/soren-kierkegaard" }, "book": { "title": "Either/Or", "slug": "eitheror", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/soren-kierkegaard/eitheror" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 43, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Either/Or#Diapsalmata", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:01:54" }, { "id": "3ebbd464-476b-4cbf-82e9-839d894da8c1", "slug": "my-soul-is-so-heavy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/soren-kierkegaard/eitheror/my-soul-is-so-heavy", "text": "My soul is so heavy that thought can no more sustain it, no wingbeat lift it up into ether. If it moves, it sweeps along the ground like the low flight of birds when a thunder storm is approaching. Over my inmost being there broods a depression, an anxiety, that, they presages an earthquake.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sören Kierkegaard", "slug": "soren-kierkegaard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/soren-kierkegaard" }, "book": { "title": "Either/Or", "slug": "eitheror", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/soren-kierkegaard/eitheror" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Either/Or#Diapsalmata", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:01:53" }, { "id": "16fe7053-7368-45b9-86b8-c60c1d8ffa1b", "slug": "time-flows-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/soren-kierkegaard/eitheror/time-flows-life", "text": "Time flows, life is a stream, people say, and so on. I do not notice it. Time stands still, and I with it. All the plans I make fly right back upon myself; when I would spit, I even spit into my own face.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sören Kierkegaard", "slug": "soren-kierkegaard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/soren-kierkegaard" }, "book": { "title": "Either/Or", "slug": "eitheror", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/soren-kierkegaard/eitheror" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 25, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "time", "slug": "time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time" }, { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Either/Or#Diapsalmata", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:01:53" }, { "id": "9c431d33-eab7-46f6-b75b-c8120affccd6", "slug": "melancholy-i-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-de-waal/the-hare-with-amber-eyes/melancholy-i-think", "text": "Melancholy, I think, is a sort of default vagueness, a get-out clause, a smothering lack of focus.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edmund de Waal", "slug": "edmund-de-waal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-de-waal" }, "book": { "title": "The Hare With Amber Eyes", "slug": "the-hare-with-amber-eyes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-de-waal/the-hare-with-amber-eyes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 16, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_de_Waal#The_Hare_with_Amber_Eyes:_A_Hidden_Inheritance_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:56" }, { "id": "d869e5fc-89f1-452b-ae49-03d490c05269", "slug": "ive-concluded-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/bittersweet/ive-concluded-that", "text": "I've concluded that bittersweetness is not, as we tend to think, just a momentary feeling or event. It's also a quiet force, a way of being, a storied tradition—as dramatically overlooked as it is brimming with human potential. It's an authentic and elevating response to the problem of being alive in a deeply flawed yet stubbornly beautiful world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Cain", "slug": "susan-cain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain" }, "book": { "title": "Bittersweet", "slug": "bittersweet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/bittersweet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Cain#Bittersweet", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:32" }, { "id": "cab20260-2857-41ea-a374-ff96ee38d544", "slug": "in-fact-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/bittersweet/in-fact-you", "text": "In fact, you could say that what orients a person to the bittersweet is a heightened awareness of finality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Cain", "slug": "susan-cain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain" }, "book": { "title": "Bittersweet", "slug": "bittersweet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/bittersweet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "transience", "slug": "transience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience" }, { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Cain#Bittersweet", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:32" }, { "id": "b7710c16-42a5-4c67-acc3-ed407355765b", "slug": "this-book-is-about", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/bittersweet/this-book-is-about", "text": "This book is about the melancholic direction, which I call the \"bittersweet\": a tendency to states of longing, poignancy, and sorrow; an acute awareness of passing time; and a curiously piercing joy at the beauty of the world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Cain", "slug": "susan-cain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain" }, "book": { "title": "Bittersweet", "slug": "bittersweet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/bittersweet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Cain#Bittersweet", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:32" }, { "id": "74f99284-3d8d-4139-970e-9f15aeddcf76", "slug": "living-in-a-bittersweet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/bittersweet/living-in-a-bittersweet", "text": "Living in a bittersweet state, with an intense awareness of life's fragility and the pain of separation, is an underappreciated strength and an unexpected path to wisdom, joy, and especially communion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Cain", "slug": "susan-cain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain" }, "book": { "title": "Bittersweet", "slug": "bittersweet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/bittersweet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 183, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "wisdom", "slug": "wisdom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom" }, { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Cain#Bittersweet", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:32" }, { "id": "73ea66a0-2cab-4625-bccb-9b213782a5d4", "slug": "being-able-to-exist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/bittersweet/being-able-to-exist", "text": "Being able to exist in a place where light and dark meet is actually not a recipe for unhappiness. It is a recipe for a deeper kind of happiness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Cain", "slug": "susan-cain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain" }, "book": { "title": "Bittersweet", "slug": "bittersweet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/bittersweet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" }, { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Cain#Bittersweet", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:32" }, { "id": "63dcb97d-710d-42b5-9fdf-ebebeedcc2e3", "slug": "now-young-friend", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/the-confidence-man/now-young-friend", "text": "Now, young friend, perhaps you think that Tacitus, like me, is only melancholy; but he's more — he's ugly. A vast difference, young sir, between the melancholy view and the ugly. The one may show the world still beautiful, not so the other. The one may be compatible with benevolence, the other not. The one may deepen insight, the other shallows it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herman Melville", "slug": "herman-melville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville" }, "book": { "title": "The Confidence-Man", "slug": "the-confidence-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/the-confidence-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" }, { "name": "ugliness", "slug": "ugliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ugliness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Confidence-Man#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:34" }, { "id": "6723a13b-a301-44ea-a28b-df03b34e85df", "slug": "when-you-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orhan-pamuk/my-name-is-red/when-you-love", "text": "When you love a city and have explored it frequently on foot, your body, not to mention your soul, gets to know the streets so well after a number of years that in a fit of melancholy, perhaps stirred by a light snow falling ever so sorrowfully, you'll discover your legs carrying you of their own accord toward one of your favorite promontories.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orhan Pamuk", "slug": "orhan-pamuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orhan-pamuk" }, "book": { "title": "My Name Is Red", "slug": "my-name-is-red", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orhan-pamuk/my-name-is-red" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 9, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "city", "slug": "city", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/city" }, { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orhan_Pamuk#My_Name_Is_Red_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:49" }, { "id": "d331836e-7bca-42f6-a1be-f9b4b7689e4d", "slug": "all-my-joys", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-burton/the-anatomy-of-melancholy/all-my-joys", "text": "All my joys to this are folly Naught so sweet as melancholy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Burton", "slug": "robert-burton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-burton" }, "book": { "title": "The Anatomy of Melancholy", "slug": "the-anatomy-of-melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-burton/the-anatomy-of-melancholy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Burton#The_Anatomy_of_Melancholy_(1621)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:20" }, { "id": "761ea383-cd32-4b3d-ba93-b49b3731d9f8", "slug": "you-that-in-far-off", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/murasaki-shikibu/the-tale-of-genji/you-that-in-far-off", "text": "You that in far-off countries of the sky can dwell secure, look back upon me here; for I am weary of this frail world's decay.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Murasaki Shikibu", "slug": "murasaki-shikibu", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/murasaki-shikibu" }, "book": { "title": "The Tale of Genji", "slug": "the-tale-of-genji", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/murasaki-shikibu/the-tale-of-genji" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Murasaki_Shikibu#The_Tale_of_Genji,_trans._Arthur_Waley", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:40" }, { "id": "b379497b-7b08-42ab-be4e-de4c8e0ddb23", "slug": "seeing-the-water", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/murasaki-shikibu/the-diary-of-lady-murasaki/seeing-the-water", "text": "Seeing the water birds on the lake increase in number day by day, I thought to myself how nice it would be if it snowed before we got back to the Palace—the garden would look so beautiful; and then, two days later, while I was away on a short visit, lo and behold, it did snow. As I watched the rather drab scene at home, I felt both depressed and confused. For some years now I had existed from day to day in listless fashion, taking note of the flowers, the birds in song, the way the skies change from season to season, the moon, the frost and snow, doing little more than registering the passage of time. How would it all turn out? The thought of my continuing loneliness was unbearable, and yet I had managed to exchange sympathetic letters with those of like mind—some contacted via fairly tenuous connections—who would discuss my trifling tales and other matters with me; but I was merely amusing myself with fictions, finding solace for my idleness in foolish words. Aware of my own insignificance, I had at least managed for the time being to avoid anything that might have been considered shameful or unbecoming; yet here I was, tasting the bitterness of life to the very full.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Murasaki Shikibu", "slug": "murasaki-shikibu", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/murasaki-shikibu" }, "book": { "title": "The Diary of Lady Murasaki", "slug": "the-diary-of-lady-murasaki", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/murasaki-shikibu/the-diary-of-lady-murasaki" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Murasaki_Shikibu#The_Diary_of_Lady_Murasaki", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:39" }, { "id": "b525a444-5bab-4bf5-904b-134d202b074d", "slug": "melancholy-when-we-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/melancholy-when-we-have", "text": "Melancholy: when we have sorrows without a name.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:10" }, { "id": "9beec126-97d6-4388-93ac-fe8ec37a2c5f", "slug": "he-tried-to-weigh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/dubliners/he-tried-to-weigh", "text": "He tried to weigh his soul to see if it was a poet's soul. Melancholy was the dominant note of his temperament, he thought, but it was a melancholy tempered by recurrences of faith and resignation and simple joy. If he could give expression to it in a book of poems perhaps men would listen.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Joyce", "slug": "james-joyce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce" }, "book": { "title": "Dubliners", "slug": "dubliners", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/dubliners" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "poetry", "slug": "poetry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry" }, { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Joyce#Dubliners_(1914)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:45" }, { "id": "85757f8f-69a6-486e-bbf6-54e0c4a1a37b", "slug": "if-i-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/something-wicked-this-way-comes/if-i-was", "text": "If I was ever a rare fine summer person, that's long ago. Most of us are half-and-half. The August noon in us works to stave off the November chills. We survive by what little Fourth of July wits we've stashed away. But there are times when we're all autumn people.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ray Bradbury", "slug": "ray-bradbury", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury" }, "book": { "title": "Something Wicked This Way Comes", "slug": "something-wicked-this-way-comes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/something-wicked-this-way-comes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 193, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "old age", "slug": "old-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/old-age" }, { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury#Something_Wicked_This_Way_Comes_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:11" }, { "id": "c2e785e5-7046-447b-b876-44b1bb01d6f2", "slug": "for-the-philosopher", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf/orlando/for-the-philosopher", "text": "For the Philosopher is right who says that nothing thicker than a knife's blade separates happiness from melancholy; and he goes on to opine that one is twin fellow to the other; and draws from this the conclusion that all extremes of feeling are allied to madness; and so bids us take refuge in the true Church (in his view the Anabaptists), which is the only harbor, port, anchorage, etc., he said, for those tossed on this sea.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Virginia Woolf", "slug": "virginia-woolf", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf" }, "book": { "title": "Orlando", "slug": "orlando", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf/orlando" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" }, { "name": "madness", "slug": "madness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness" }, { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orlando:_A_Biography#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:17" }, { "id": "b687cc32-5eb4-4001-8634-4b470a66d99a", "slug": "a-noble-craft", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick/a-noble-craft", "text": "A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy! All noble things are touched with that.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herman Melville", "slug": "herman-melville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville" }, "book": { "title": "Moby-Dick", "slug": "moby-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 77, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick#The_Ship_(16)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:40" }, { "id": "3ebb91f8-c521-4fdb-97d0-3efbcdd891d3", "slug": "call-me-ishmael", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick/call-me-ishmael", "text": "Call me Ishmael. Some years ago — never mind how long precisely —having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herman Melville", "slug": "herman-melville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville" }, "book": { "title": "Moby-Dick", "slug": "moby-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 1, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "travel", "slug": "travel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/travel" }, { "name": "the sea", "slug": "the-sea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-sea" }, { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick#Loomings_(1)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:39" }, { "id": "a2f490bd-ecf4-444b-95e3-449ed5b49b0d", "slug": "vague-a-lame", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay/vague-a-lame", "text": "Vague a l'ame — melancholy yearning for the end of the world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "A Short History of Decay", "slug": "a-short-history-of-decay", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" }, { "name": "the end of the world", "slug": "the-end-of-the-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-end-of-the-world" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#A_Short_History_of_Decay_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:40" }, { "id": "617abab9-b775-4c30-a456-1f83e6762963", "slug": "espousing-the-melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay/espousing-the-melancholy", "text": "Espousing the melancholy of ancient symbols, I would have freed myself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "A Short History of Decay", "slug": "a-short-history-of-decay", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "melancholy", "slug": "melancholy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy" }, { "name": "symbols", "slug": "symbols", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/symbols" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#A_Short_History_of_Decay_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:39" } ] }