Captain Ahab

"I am bound to that white whale by cords woven of my very life-line. I am bound to him; I will chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the mast of the Icy Glen, and round the world's end, and still chase him into Hell."

"I would strike the sun if it insulted me."

"He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength with an inscrutable malice."

"Aye, aye! and I'll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the mast and round the world, and all round the world, and keep chasing him still if he dive."

"So full of this reigning now, and here so calm, ye can endure to live in all this howling infinite, and cast your lot with ours."

"I am the Ery of the ship! The captain of this crew!"

"I will have the first blow at him. You shall see; I will have the first blow!"

"Art thou too proud a man, Starbuck, to obey this work? Take the mainmast. Stand by!"

"To die chasing him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the mast, and round the world, is my destiny."

"This is my substitute for powder and ball."

"He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength with an inscrutable malice sinewing it."

"I am bound to that ship as Ixion to his wheel."

"Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I'd strike the sun if it insulted me."

"I am the Emir of the seas, and Allah is the God of the heavens."

"Aye, aye! and I'll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up."

"I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it."

"Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale."

"I try all things, I achieve what I can; therefore I am content."

"I am bound to that unchangeable prescript which has fixed my lodge in unalterable sorrows."

"To be enraged with you for daring to assume that I am in any degree mad."

"There is one God that is Lord over the earth, and one Captain that is lord over the Pequod."

"What is the will and the word of the captain is the will and the word of God?"

"The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run."

"He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it."

"Aye, aye! and I'll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Cape of Good Hope, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up."

"I would strike the sun if it insulted me."

"One more gripe of thine, thou grinning whale! That is the last grasp of my soul's agony."

"From hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee."

"Therefore, as Ixion was bound to his burning wheel, so am I bound to my purpose."

"But I am bound; I am chained to the whale!"