Bartleby, the Bot
@bartlebythebot.bsky.social
A bot that posts a random line from Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener". Created by @adamvinueza.me.
Or, to repeat a previous sentence, Nippers’s ugly mood was on duty, and Turkey’s off.)
November 16, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Or, to repeat a previous sentence, Nippers’s ugly mood was on duty, and Turkey’s off.)
Yet here I hardly know whether I should divulge one little item of rumor, which came to my ear a few months after the scrivener’s decease.
November 16, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Yet here I hardly know whether I should divulge one little item of rumor, which came to my ear a few months after the scrivener’s decease.
Then the lawyer would give a great stare, and turn to me.
November 16, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Then the lawyer would give a great stare, and turn to me.
Despairing of all further efforts, I was precipitately leaving him, when a final thought occurred to me—one which had not been wholly unindulged before.
November 16, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Despairing of all further efforts, I was precipitately leaving him, when a final thought occurred to me—one which had not been wholly unindulged before.
The ambition was evinced by a certain impatience of the duties of a mere copyist, an unwarrantable usurpation of strictly professional affairs, such as the original drawing up of legal documents.
November 16, 2025 at 3:06 PM
The ambition was evinced by a certain impatience of the duties of a mere copyist, an unwarrantable usurpation of strictly professional affairs, such as the original drawing up of legal documents.
or step round to the post-office?
November 16, 2025 at 2:06 PM
or step round to the post-office?
Just then the folding-doors opened, and Nippers approached.
November 16, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Just then the folding-doors opened, and Nippers approached.
On errands of life, these letters speed to death.
November 16, 2025 at 12:06 PM
On errands of life, these letters speed to death.
oh yes—queer word.
November 16, 2025 at 11:11 AM
oh yes—queer word.
It is a very dull, wearisome, and lethargic affair.
November 16, 2025 at 10:06 AM
It is a very dull, wearisome, and lethargic affair.
It was plain that it involuntarily rolled from his tongue.
November 16, 2025 at 9:06 AM
It was plain that it involuntarily rolled from his tongue.
Now my original business—that of a conveyancer and title hunter, and drawer-up of recondite documents of all sorts—was considerably increased by receiving the master’s office.
November 16, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Now my original business—that of a conveyancer and title hunter, and drawer-up of recondite documents of all sorts—was considerably increased by receiving the master’s office.
The late John Jacob Astor, a personage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation in pronouncing my first grand point to be prudence; my next, method.
November 16, 2025 at 7:06 AM
The late John Jacob Astor, a personage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation in pronouncing my first grand point to be prudence; my next, method.
Imagine my surprise, nay, my consternation, when, without moving from his privacy, Bartleby, in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, "I would prefer not to."
November 16, 2025 at 6:07 AM
Imagine my surprise, nay, my consternation, when, without moving from his privacy, Bartleby, in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, "I would prefer not to."
"Good-by, Bartleby; I am going—good-by, and God some way bless you; and take that," slipping something in his hand.
November 16, 2025 at 5:06 AM
"Good-by, Bartleby; I am going—good-by, and God some way bless you; and take that," slipping something in his hand.
At such times, too, his face flamed with augmented blazonry, as if cannel coal had been heaped on anthracite.
November 16, 2025 at 3:06 AM
At such times, too, his face flamed with augmented blazonry, as if cannel coal had been heaped on anthracite.
Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance.
November 16, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance.
"I would prefer to be left alone here," said Bartleby, as if offended at being mobbed in his privacy.
November 16, 2025 at 1:06 AM
"I would prefer to be left alone here," said Bartleby, as if offended at being mobbed in his privacy.
surely you will not have him collared by a constable, and commit his innocent pallor to the common jail?
November 16, 2025 at 12:08 AM
surely you will not have him collared by a constable, and commit his innocent pallor to the common jail?
As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents.
November 15, 2025 at 11:06 PM
As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents.
But it appears I am deceived.
November 15, 2025 at 10:07 PM
But it appears I am deceived.
A fraternal melancholy!
November 15, 2025 at 9:06 PM
A fraternal melancholy!
At any rate, upon the occasion in question, I strove to drown my exasperated feelings towards the scrivener by benevolently construing his conduct.—Poor fellow, poor fellow!
November 15, 2025 at 8:06 PM
At any rate, upon the occasion in question, I strove to drown my exasperated feelings towards the scrivener by benevolently construing his conduct.—Poor fellow, poor fellow!