Joseph Conrad Quotes

On this page you can find the TOP of Joseph Conrad's best quotes! We hope you will find some sayings from Author Joseph Conrad's in our collection, which will inspire you to new achievements! There are currently 278 quotes on this page collected since December 3, 1857! Share our collection of quotes with your friends on social media so that they can find something to inspire them!
  • Conrad placed on the title page an epigraph taken from Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene: "Sleep after toyle, port after stormie seas, Ease after warre, death after life, does greatly please" This also became Conrad's epitaph.

  • The air of the New World seems favorable to the art of declamation.

    "Nostromo". Book by Joseph Conrad, Part First: The Silver of the Mine, Ch. 6, 1904.
  • There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.

    Joseph Conrad (1905). “Lord Jim”, p.7, McClure, Phillips & Company
  • A writer without interest or sympathy for the foibles of his fellow man is not conceivable as a writer.

  • It occurred to me that my speech or my silence, indeed any action of mine, would be a mere futility.

    Joseph Conrad “Heart of Darkness”, W. W. Norton & Company
  • If you don't make mistakes, you don't make anything .

  • He has to live in the midst of the incomprehensible, which is detestable. And it has a fascination, too, which goes to work upon him. The fascination of the abomination--you know.

    Joseph Conrad (2015). “Heart of Darkness”, p.22, eKitap Projesi
  • Books may be written in all sorts of places. Verbal inspiration may enter the berth of a mariner on board a ship frozen fast in a river in the middle of a town.

    Joseph Conrad (2015). “The Complete Works of Joseph Conrad: 20 Novels & 26 Short Stories (Including Memoirs, Essays & Letters in One Single Edition): Classics of World Literature from One of the Greatest English Novelists: Heart of Darkness, The Duel, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, The Shadow-Line & Under Western Eyes”, p.5383, e-artnow
  • There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery.

    Joseph Conrad (1905). “Lord Jim”, p.230, McClure, Phillips & Company
  • Hang ideas! They are tramps, vagabonds, knocking at the back-door of your mind, each taking a little of your substance, each carrying away some crumb of that belief in a few simple notions you must cling to if you want to live decently and would like to die easy!

    Joseph Conrad (1905). “Lord Jim”, p.39, McClure, Phillips & Company
  • It made you feel very small, very lost, and yet it was not altogether depressing, that feeling. After all, if you were small, the grimy beetle crawled on - which was just what you wanted it to do.

    Joseph Conrad (2012). “Heart of Darkness Thrift Study Edition”, p.31, Courier Corporation
  • We couldn't understand because we were too far... and could not remember because we were traveling in the night of first ages, those ages that had gone, leaving hardly a sign... and no memories.

  • Violence is not a catalyst but a diversion.

  • A task, any task, undertaken in an adventurous spirit acquires the merit of romance.

    Joseph Conrad (2015). “A Personal Record”, p.87, Booklassic
  • But it is like a running blaze on a plain, like a flash of lightning in the clouds. We live in the flicker - may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling!

    "Heart of Darkness and Other Stories".
  • To be a great autocrat you must be a great barbarian.

    Joseph Conrad (2016). “The Mirror of the Sea”, p.116, Joseph Conrad
  • The mind of man is capable of anything.

    Joseph Conrad (2009). “Heart of Darkness Thrift Study Edition”, p.32, Courier Corporation
  • There is 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 (2015). “The Complete Novels of Joseph Conrad - All 20 Works in One Premium Edition: Including Unforgettable Titles like Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, Under Western Eyes and Many More (With Author’s Letters, Memoirs and Critical Essays)”, p.4390, e-artnow
  • It is a maudlin and indecent verity that comes out through the strength of wine.

    Joseph Conrad (2015). “Lord Jim (Unabridged Deluxe Edition): A Classic Novel of Guilt and Atonement From the Renowned Author of Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, The Secret Agent & Under Western Eyes (Including Author’s Memoirs, Letters & Critical Essays)”, p.380, e-artnow
  • The humblest craft that floats makes its appeal to a seaman by the faithfulness of her life.

    Joseph Conrad (2015). “The Napoleonic Novels: The Rover & Suspense: From the Renowned Author of The Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes (Including Author’s Memoirs, Letters & Critical Essays)”, p.604, e-artnow
  • He struggled with himself, too. I saw it -- I heard it. I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself.

    Joseph Conrad (2008). “Heart of Darkness and Other Tales”, OUP Oxford
  • There is a kind way of assisting our fellow-creatures which is enough to break their hearts while it saves their outer envelope.

    Joseph Conrad (2015). “Joseph Conrad Ultimate Collection: 18 Novels, 20+ Short Stories, Letters & Memoirs: Including Classics like Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Duel, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, Victory, The Shadow-Line & Under Western Eyes”, p.2778, e-artnow
  • We live in the flicker -- may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday.

    Joseph Conrad (2006). “Heart of Darkness and Other Stories”, p.13, Collector's Library
  • 5: Social security will break small business, become a huge tax burden on our citizens, and bankrupt our country! 1944: The G.I. Bill will break small business, become a huge tax burden on our citizens, and bankrupt our country! 1965: Medicare will break small business, become a huge tax burden on our citizens, and bankrupt our country! 1994: Health care will break small business, become a huge tax burden on our citizens, and bankrupt our country!

  • A man's real life is that accorded to him in the thoughts of other men by reason of respect or natural love.

    Under Western Eyes pt. 1, ch. 1 (1911)
  • It is when we try to grapple with another man's intimate need that we perceive how incomprehensible, wavering, and misty are the beings that share with us the sight of the stars and the warmth of the sun.

    Joseph Conrad (1905). “Lord Jim”, p.167, McClure, Phillips & Company
  • The conquest of the earth... is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only... not a sentimental pretence but an idea.

    Joseph Conrad (2012). “Heart of Darkness: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.7, Penguin
  • 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 (2016). “Nostromo”, p.241, Joseph Conrad
  • Truth of a modest sort I can promise you, and also sincerity. That complete, praiseworthy sincerity which, while it delivers one into the hands of one's enemies, is as likely as not to embroil one with one's friends.

    Joseph Conrad (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Joseph Conrad (Illustrated)”, p.5375, Delphi Classics
  • As a general rule, a reputation is built on manner as much as on achievement.

    Joseph Conrad (2016). “Joseph Conrad: The Complete Novels [Nostromo, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, etc.] (Book House)”, p.1301, Book House
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  • We hope you have found the saying you were looking for in our collection! At the moment, we have collected 278 quotes from the Author Joseph Conrad, starting from December 3, 1857! We periodically replenish our collection so that visitors of our website can always find inspirational quotes by authors from all over the world! Come back to us again!