Herman Melville

Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries—stand that man upon his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region…. Meditation and water are wedded forever.

What we take to be our strongest tower of delight, only stands at the caprice of the minutest event—the falling of a leaf, the hearing of a voice, or the receipt of one little bit of paper scratched over with a few small characters by a sharpened feather.

Foemen at morn, but friends at eve—
Fame or country least their care:
(What like a bullet can undeceive!)