Moby Dick: All Men Live Enveloped in Whale-Lines

I’m reading Moby Dick at the moment—one of many works of art that only gained recognition after the death of their creators—and came across this beautiful passage about the perilous nature of life:

All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a philosopher, though seated in the whale-boat, you would not at heart feel one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with a poker, and not a harpoon, by your side.

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