The First Lowering, Moby Dick

 "There, then, he sat, holding up that imbecile candle in the heart of that almighty forlornness. 

There, then, he sat, the sign and symbol of a man without faith, hopelessly holding up hope in the midst of despair."


from The First Lowering, CHAPTER XLVIII, MOBY DICK

http://etcweb.princeton.edu/batke/moby/moby_048.html