Joseph Conrad: Trending quotes (page 4)

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. ISBN 0521257484

Nature

“Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love — and to put its trust in life!!”

Joseph Conrad book Victory

Victory: An Island Tale, part IV, Ch. 14

Love , Life , Hope , Learning

“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 book The Mirror of the Sea

Source: The Mirror of the Sea (1906), Ch. 17

Death , Men , Age , Peace

“I take it that what all men are really after is some form or perhaps only some formula of peace.”

Joseph Conrad book Under Western Eyes

Pt. I
Under Western Eyes (1911)

Men , Peace

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

Joseph Conrad

The Arrow of Gold http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext97/argld10h.htm (1919), Author's note,

Memory

“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

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

Truth , Future

“His name was Jermyn, and he dodged all day long about the galley drying his handkerchief before the stove. Apparently he never slept. He was a dismal man, with a perpetual tear sparkling at the end of his nose, who either had been in trouble, or was in trouble, or expected to be in trouble — couldn't be happy unless something went wrong. He mistrusted my youth, my common-sense, and my seamanship, and made a point of showing it in a hundred little ways. I dare say he was right. It seems to me I knew very little then, and I know not much more now; but I cherish a hate for that Jermyn to this day.”

Joseph Conrad

Youth, A Narrative http://www.gutenberg.org/files/525/525.txt (1902)

Hate , Youth , Way , Sense

“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 book The Mirror of the Sea

Source: The Mirror of the Sea (1906), Ch. 7

Love , Art , Nature

“It is not the clear-sighted who lead the world. Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm mental fog.”

Joseph Conrad

Victory: An Island Tale http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6378/6378-h/6378-h.htm (1915), Part II, ch. 3

World

“The sea never changes and its works, for all the talk of men, are wrapped in mystery.”

Joseph Conrad book Typhoon

Typhoon (1902), Ch. 2

Men , Change , Sea

“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 book The Mirror of the Sea

Source: The Mirror of the Sea (1906), Ch. 28

Weather

“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 book Nostromo

Part Third: The Lighthouse, Ch. 8
Nostromo (1904)

Nature , Sense

“Let a fool be made serviceable according to his folly.”

Joseph Conrad book Under Western Eyes

Pt. I, ch. 3
Under Western Eyes (1911)

Fools

“He feared neither God, nor devil, nor man, nor wind, nor sea, nor his own conscience. And I believe he hated everybody and everything. But I think he was afraid to die. I believe I am the only man who ever stood up to him.”

Joseph Conrad book The Shadow Line

Referring to Mr. Burns. Compare to Heart of Darkness' manager: "He was becoming confidential now, but I fancy my unresponsive attitude must have exasperated him at last, for he judged it necessary to inform me he feared neither God nor devil, let alone any mere man. I said I could see that very well..."
The Shadow Line (1915)

God , Hate , Fear , Thinking

“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 book Nostromo

Part Third: The Lighthouse, Ch. 1
Often misquoted as "A caricature is putting the face of a joke on the body of a truth."
Nostromo (1904)

Truth , Success