Moby-Dick; or, The Whale · Moby-Dick, ch. 5 · block 2

However, a good laugh is a mighty good thing, and rather too scarce a good thing; the more’s the pity. So, if any one man, in his own proper person, afford stuff for a good joke to anybody, let him not be backward, but let him cheerfully allow himself to spend and be spent in that way. And the man that has anything bountifully laughable about him, be sure there is more in that man than you perhaps think for.

Herman Melville · 1851
Project Gutenberg #15, credited to Eugene F. Irey; updated 10 June 2026. Based on the first American edition, Harper & Brothers, 1851, according to the source catalog.
Mapped print edition: Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851; First American edition).
Passage ¶455: pp. 32–33 (Scanned p. 32 · Scanned p. 33)
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Gloss address: 5.2 · chapter.paragraph · global ¶455
Frozen text and counting rules: g1-582503627a093f94.
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