Herman Melville: Takes Cash Out
on Sunday, September 5, 2021Herman Melville Money Quote saying that being on the road drains both pens and bank accounts – travel is expensive. Herman Melville said:
“Traveling takes the ink out of one’s pen as well as the cash out of one’s purse” — Herman Melville
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In this quote, Herman Melville seems to be commenting on how travel can negatively impact both one’s creative writing as well as one’s financial resources. Specifically:
- Melville states that traveling has the effect of “taking the ink out of one’s pen” – meaning it depletes or diminishes one’s inspiration, ideas and motivation for creative work like writing.
- He also notes that traveling expends “the cash out of one’s purse” – implying it uses up one’s money through the costs of transportation, lodging, food and activities while traveling.
The best interpretation is that Melville believed extensive traveling, while potentially enriching in other ways, can drain both an author’s creative juices/productivity as well as their financial reserves.
His quote conveys the perspective that extensive travel comes at the opportunity cost of draining resources that may otherwise fuel artistic output according to his observation of travel’s impacts on inspiration and income.
Birthday: August 1, 1819 – Death: September 28, 1891