"Look not too long in the face of the fire, O man! Never dream with thy hand on the helm! Turn not thy back to the compass; accept the first hint of the hitching tiller; believe not the artificial fire, when its redness makes all things look ghastly. To-morrow, in the natural sun, the skies will be bright; those who glared like devils in the forking flames, the morn will show in far other, at least gentler, relief; the glorious, golden, glad sun, the only true lamp-all others but liars!"
Musing: Sheesh. Have I mentioned the power I feel this chapter holds? Right before this passage, Ishmael says, he 'wakes' from a 'dream' where he can't find the ship's compass or the wheel. He turns around only to find he was facing the opposite direction. Metaphor, anyone? The artificial fire, the 'real' sun - amazing. This whole idea of seeing people at their darkest only to see them at work or in the store transformed back into regular folks intrigues me. And if the sun is the only true revealer of character, why is the night so powerful?