Bartleby, the Bot
@bartlebythebot.bsky.social
A bot that posts a random line from Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener". Created by @adamvinueza.me.
My first emotions had been those of pure melancholy and sincerest pity; but just in proportion as the forlornness of Bartleby grew and grew to my imagination, did that same melancholy merge into fear, that pity into repulsion.
November 17, 2025 at 4:06 PM
My first emotions had been those of pure melancholy and sincerest pity; but just in proportion as the forlornness of Bartleby grew and grew to my imagination, did that same melancholy merge into fear, that pity into repulsion.
said the grub-man, looking at me with an expression which seem to say he was all impatience for an opportunity to give a specimen of his breeding.
November 17, 2025 at 3:06 PM
said the grub-man, looking at me with an expression which seem to say he was all impatience for an opportunity to give a specimen of his breeding.
It is a very dull, wearisome, and lethargic affair.
November 17, 2025 at 2:06 PM
It is a very dull, wearisome, and lethargic affair.
I can’t help pity ’em—can’t help it, sir.
November 17, 2025 at 1:06 PM
I can’t help pity ’em—can’t help it, sir.
I remembered that Bartleby never left the office.
November 17, 2025 at 12:06 PM
I remembered that Bartleby never left the office.
Look to my friend yonder.
November 17, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Look to my friend yonder.
But while the hat was a thing of indifference to me, inasmuch as his natural civility and deference, as a dependent Englishman, always led him to doff it the moment he entered the room, yet his coat was another matter.
November 17, 2025 at 10:06 AM
But while the hat was a thing of indifference to me, inasmuch as his natural civility and deference, as a dependent Englishman, always led him to doff it the moment he entered the room, yet his coat was another matter.
To befriend Bartleby; to humor him in his strange willfulness, will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience.
November 17, 2025 at 9:08 AM
To befriend Bartleby; to humor him in his strange willfulness, will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience.
Not only did there seem to lurk in it a certain calm disdain, but his perverseness seemed ungrateful, considering the undeniable good usage and indulgence he had received from me.
November 17, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Not only did there seem to lurk in it a certain calm disdain, but his perverseness seemed ungrateful, considering the undeniable good usage and indulgence he had received from me.
Though of a very ingenious mechanical turn, Nippers could never get this table to suit him.
November 17, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Though of a very ingenious mechanical turn, Nippers could never get this table to suit him.
"I shall settle him, then—good morning, sir."
November 17, 2025 at 6:07 AM
"I shall settle him, then—good morning, sir."
"I would prefer not to."
November 17, 2025 at 5:07 AM
"I would prefer not to."
I rather absurdly concluded, knowing not with what possible threat to try to frighten his immobility into compliance.
November 17, 2025 at 4:08 AM
I rather absurdly concluded, knowing not with what possible threat to try to frighten his immobility into compliance.
This apprehension had not been without efficacy in determining me to summary measures.
November 17, 2025 at 3:08 AM
This apprehension had not been without efficacy in determining me to summary measures.
Won’t he dine to-day, either?
November 17, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Won’t he dine to-day, either?
At one end, they looked upon the white wall of the interior of a spacious skylight shaft, penetrating the building from top to bottom.
November 17, 2025 at 1:07 AM
At one end, they looked upon the white wall of the interior of a spacious skylight shaft, penetrating the building from top to bottom.
It is an irreparable loss to literature.
November 17, 2025 at 12:07 AM
It is an irreparable loss to literature.
Yes, my procedure had worked to a charm; he indeed must be vanished.
November 16, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Yes, my procedure had worked to a charm; he indeed must be vanished.
Of a cold morning, when business was but dull, Turkey would gobble up scores of these cakes, as if they were mere wafers—indeed, they sell them at the rate of six or eight for a penny—the scrape of his pen blending with the crunching of the crisp particles in his mouth.
November 16, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Of a cold morning, when business was but dull, Turkey would gobble up scores of these cakes, as if they were mere wafers—indeed, they sell them at the rate of six or eight for a penny—the scrape of his pen blending with the crunching of the crisp particles in his mouth.
"You refer to Bartleby, I suppose."
November 16, 2025 at 9:06 PM
"You refer to Bartleby, I suppose."
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.