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Joseph Conrad
75 quotes
“Socialism must inevitably end in Caesarism. ... Disestablishment, Land Reform, Universival Brotherhood are but like milestones on the road to ruin.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1885 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter (19 December 1885), sent by Conrad from Calcutta to Joseph Spiridion in England, quoted in:
“Above all, we must forgive the unhappy souls who have elected to make the pilgrimage on foot, who skirt the shore and look uncomprehendingly upon the horror of the struggle, the joy of victory, the profound hopelessness of the vanquished.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter (March 1890), published in The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, edited by Frederick R. Karl and Laurence Davies, Vol. 1, p. 43
“When he stepped off the straight and narrow path of his peculiar honesty, it was with an inward assertion of unflinching resolve to fall back again into the monotonous but safe stride of virtue as soon as his little excursion into the wayside quagmires had produced the desired effect.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1896 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Outcast of the Islands (1896), first lines,
“It's only those who do nothing that make no mistakes, I suppose.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1896 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Outcast of the Islands (1896), Pt. 3, Ch. 2; possibly an adaptation of a Polish proverb, "Ten się nie myli, kto nic nie robi" — "One is not wrong, who does nothing.
“What makes mankind tragic is not that they are the victims of nature, it is that they are conscious of it.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1898 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Robert Cunninghame-Graham (January 1898), published in The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, edited by Frederick R. Karl and Laurence Davies, Vol. 2, p. 30.
“The more I write the less substance do I see in my work, … It is tolerably awful. And I face it, I face it but the fright is growing on me. My fortitude is shaken by the view of the monster. It does not move; its eyes are baleful; it is as still as death itself — and it will devour me. Its stare has eaten into my soul already deep, deep.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1899 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Edward Garnett written in March 1899, published in The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, edited by Frederick R. Karl and Laurence Davies, Vol. 2, p. 177
“Egoism, which is the moving force of the world, and altruism, which is its morality, these two contradictory instincts, of which one is so plain and the other so mysterious, cannot serve us unless in the incomprehensible alliance of their irreconcilable antagonism.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1901 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to the editor of The New York Times Saturday Book Review (August 1901), as quoted in Joseph Conrad: A Life (2007) by Zdzisław Najder, translated by Halina Najder, p. 315
“She strode like a grenadier, was strong and upright like an obelisk, had a beautiful face, a candid brow, pure eyes, and not a thought of her own in her head.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1902 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tales of Unrest. The Return (1902)
“One must have lived on such diet to discover what ghastly trouble the necessity of swallowing one's food become.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1902 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tales of Unrest. An Outpost of Progress (1902)
“Running all over the sea trying to get behind the weather.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1902 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Typhoon (1902), Ch. 2
“The sea never changes and its works, for all the talk of men, are wrapped in mystery.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1902 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Typhoon (1902), Ch. 2
“Facing it — always facing it — that's the way to get through.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1902 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Typhoon (1902), Ch. 5
“The future is of our own making — and (for me) the most striking characteristic of the century is just that development, that maturing of our consciousness which should open our eyes to that truth.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1902 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to H. G. Wells (February 1902), published in The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, edited by Frederick R. Karl and Laurence Davies, Vol. 2, p. 509
“One wonders that there can be found a man courageous enough to occupy the post. It is a matter of meditation. Having given it a few minutes I come to the conclusion in the serenity of my heart and the peace of my conscience that he must be either an extreme megalomaniac or an utterly unconscious being.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1907 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Censor of Plays" (1907)
“As to honour — you know — it's a very fine mediaeval inheritance which women never got hold of. It wasn't theirs.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chance (1913), Part I, Ch. 2
“It is to be remarked that a good many people are born curiously unfitted for the fate awaiting them on this earth.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chance (1913), part I, Ch. 6
“I can't tell if a straw ever saved a drowning man, but I know that a mere glance is enough to make despair pause. For in truth we who are creatures of impulse are not creatures of despair.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chance (1913), part I, Ch. 6
“Being a woman is a terribly difficult trade since it consists principally of dealings with men.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chance (1913) part II, Ch. 5
“The world of finance is a mysterious world in which, incredible as the fact may appear, evaporation precedes liquidation.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1915 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Victory: An Island Tale (1915), part I, Ch. 1
“It is not the clear-sighted who lead the world. Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm mental fog.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1915 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Victory: An Island Tale (1915), Part II, ch. 3
“Every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce life early and the human race come to an end.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1915 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Victory: An Island Tale (1915), part II, Ch. 3
“The last thing a woman will consent to discover in a man whom she loves, or on whom she simply depends, is want of courage.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He remembered that she was pretty, and, more, that she had a special grace in the intimacy of life. She had the secret of individuality which excites — and escapes.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love — and to put its trust in life!!”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Reality, as usual, beats fiction out of sight.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1915 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter (September 1915), published in The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, edited by Frederick R. Karl and Laurence Davies, Vol. 5, p. 509
“In plucking the fruit of memory one runs the risk of spoiling its bloom.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Arrow of Gold (1919), Author's note,
“A man is a worker. If he is not that he is nothing.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notes on Life and Letters (1921), part II, "Well Done
“For the great mass of mankind the only saving grace that is needed is steady fidelity to what is nearest to hand and heart in the short moment of each human effort.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notes on Life and Letters (1921), Part II,, "Tradition
“This could have occurred nowhere but in England, where men and sea interpenetrate, so to speak.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had been six years at sea, but had only seen Melbourne and Sydney, very good places, charming places in their way — but Bankok!”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I remember my youth and the feeling that will never come back any more — the feeling that I could last for ever, outlast the sea, the earth, and all men; the deceitful feeling that lures us on to joys, to perils, to love, to vain effort — to death; the triumphant conviction of strength, the heat of life in the handful of dust, the glow in the heart that with every year grows dim, grows cold, grows small, and expires — and expires, too soon — too soon before life itself.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only a moment; a moment of strength, of romance, of glamour — of youth!... A flick of sunshine upon a strange shore, the time to remember, the time for a sigh, and — goodbye! — Night — Goodbye!”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God for men — religions for women," he muttered sometimes.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Action is consolatory. It is the enemy of thought and the friend of flattering illusions.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The air of the New World seems favorable to the art of declamation.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A nickname may be the best record of a success. That's what I call putting the face of a joke upon the body of a truth.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Having had to encounter single-handed during his period of eclipse many physical dangers, he was well aware of the most dangerous element common to them all: of the crushing, paralyzing sense of human littleness, which is what really defeats a man struggling with natural forces, alone, far from the eyes of his fellows.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no credulity so eager and blind as the credulity of covetousness, which, in its universal extent, measures the moral misery and the intellectual destitution of mankind.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The truth was that he died from solitude, the enemy known but to few on this Earth, and whom only the simplest of us are fit to withstand. The brilliant Costaguanaro of the boulevards had died from solitude and want of faith in himself and others.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no peace and no rest in the development of material interests. They have their law, and their justice. But it is founded on expediency, and is inhuman; it is without rectitude, without the continuity and the force that can be found only in a moral principal.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Efficiency of a practically flawless kind may be reached naturally in the struggle for bread. But there is something beyond — a higher point, a subtle and unmistakable touch of love and pride beyond mere skill; almost an inspiration which gives to all work that finish which is almost art — which is art.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“History repeats itself, but the special call of an art which has passed away is never reproduced. It is as utterly gone out of the world as the song of a destroyed wild bird.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An artist is a man of action, whether he creates a personality, invents an expedient, or finds the issue of a complicated situation.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nobody ever comes back from a "missing" ship to tell how hard was the death of the craft, and how sudden and overwhelming the last anguish of her men. Nobody can say with what thoughts, with what regrets, with what words on their lips they died. But there is something fine in the sudden passing away of these hearts from the extremity of struggle and stress and tremendous uproar—from the vast, unrestful rage of the surface to the profound peace of the depths, sleeping untroubled since the beginning of ages.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Westerly Wind asserting his sway from the south-west quarter is often like a monarch gone mad, driving forth with wild imprecations the most faithful of his courtiers to shipwreck, disaster, and death.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To see! to see! — this is the craving of the sailor, as of the rest of blind humanity. To have his path made clear for him is the aspiration of every human being in our beclouded and tempestuous existence.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The East Wind, an interloper in the dominions of Westerly weather, is an impassive-faced tyrant with a sharp poniard held behind his back for a treacherous stab.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For all that has been said of the love that certain natures (on shore) have professed to feel for it, for all the celebrations it had been the object of in prose and song, the sea has never been friendly to man. At most it has been the accomplice of human restlessness, and playing the part of dangerous abettor of world-wide ambitions.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sea — this truth must be confessed — has no generosity. No display of manly qualities — courage, hardihood, endurance, faithfulness — has ever been known to touch its irresponsible consciousness of power.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Protection is the first necessity of opulence and luxury.”
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source