38 Quotes By Joseph Conrad


Who knows what true loneliness is - not the conventional word but the naked terror? To the lonely themselves it wears a mask. The most miserable outcast hugs some memory or some illusion.
Joseph Conrad on alone

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.
Joseph Conrad on alone

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 on art

Only in men's imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life.
Joseph Conrad on art

Any work that aspires, however humbly, to the condition of art should carry its justification in every line.
Joseph Conrad on art

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 on courage

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 on courage

Perhaps life is just that... a dream and a fear.
Joseph Conrad on dreams

Each blade of grass has its spot on earth whence it draws its life, its strength and so is man rooted to the land from which he draws his faith together with his life.
Joseph Conrad on faith

Perhaps life is just that... a dream and a fear.
Joseph Conrad on fear

How does one kill fear, I wonder? How do you shoot a specter through the heart, slash off its spectral head, take it by its spectral throat?
Joseph Conrad on fear

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 on history

Going home must be like going to render an account.
Joseph Conrad on home

Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love - and to put its trust in life.
Joseph Conrad on hope

Only in men's imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life.
Joseph Conrad on imagination

All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.
Joseph Conrad on legal

Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love - and to put its trust in life.
Joseph Conrad on love

Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men.
Joseph Conrad on men

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.
Joseph Conrad on men

Each blade of grass has its spot on earth whence it draws its life, its strength and so is man rooted to the land from which he draws his faith together with his life.
Joseph Conrad on nature