Quotes from Joseph Conrad

The actors of 1812 have long since left the stage, their personal interests have vanished leaving no trace, and nothing remains of that time but its historic results.

For socialism is not merely the labour question, it is before all things the atheistic question, the question of the form taken by atheism to-day, the question of the tower of Babel built without God, not to mount to heaven from earth but to set up heaven on earth.

that glance of insufferable, hopelessly dense sufficiency which nothing but the frequentation of science can give to the dullness of common mortals.

this grimy fragment of another world, the forerunner of change, of conquest, of trade, of massacres, of blessings....the merry dance of death and trade goes on

The ancients have left us model heroic poems in which the heroes furnish the whole interest of the story, and we are still unable to accustom ourselves to the fact that for our epoch histories of that kind are meaningless.

All hope abandon, ye who enter in!

Mrs. Churchill, after being disliked at least twenty-five years, was now spoken of with compassionate allowances.

Sanki baz? sessiz gecelerde uzaklarda çalan davullar?n çarp?nt?s?, yükselen ve alçalan, hem engin hem de belli belirsiz titreÅŸim duyulabiliyordu; garip, insana hitap eden, davetkar ve vahÅŸi bir sesti bu, ama sanki Hristiyan bir ülkedeki çan sesleri kadar derine iÅŸleyen bir anlama sahipti.

I only know that he who makes a tie is lost, the seed of corruption has entered his heart

Lord, lay me down as a stone and raise me up as a loaf!

O Crassus, tell us, For thou dost know, what is the taste of gold?

Oh, Heavens' ejaculated the engineer in a feeble voice.

we must judge men not so much by what they do, as by what they make us feel that they have it in them to do. If a man has done enough, either in painting, music or the affairs of life, to make me feel that I might trust him in an emergency he has done enough.

For if ye had been able to see all, No need there were for Mary to give birth;

And ye have seen desiring without fruit, Those whose desire would have been quieted, Which evermore is given them for a grief. I speak of Aristotle and of Plato

All a man can betray is his conscience.

cozily as if she had known him all her life, for love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride.

The horror, the horror.

For a bag of pepper, they could cut each other's throats without hesitation, and would forswear their souls... The bizarre obstinacy of that desire made them defy death in a thousand shapes; the unknown seas, the loathsome diseases; wounds, captivity, hunger, pestilence and despair. It made them great! By heavens! It made them heroic; and it made them pathetic, too, in their craving for trade with the inflexible death levying its toll on young and old

one of those men who choose their opinions like their clothes according to the fashion

He knew that an apple should not be plucked while it is green. It will fall of itself when ripe, but if picked unripe the apple is spoiled, the tree is harmed, and your teeth are set on edge.

It's queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset.

man is created for happiness, that happiness is within him, in the satisfaction of simple human needs, and that all unhappiness arises not from privation but from superfluity.

In plucking the fruit of memory one runs the risk of spoiling its bloom