Joseph Conrad idézet

„Úgy élünk, ahogy álmodunk - egyedül.“

—  Joseph Conrad

„Felesleges egy természetfeletti gonosz erőben hinnünk. Az ember maga is képes mindenféle gonoszságra.“

—  Joseph Conrad

„Jaj annak, ki nem tanult meg fiatalon remélni és szeretni - és bízni az életben!“

—  Joseph Conrad

„Értelmes ember mindennek megtalálja a maga módját.“

—  Joseph Conrad

„Olyan a mi világunk, az egyiknek eltűri, hogy lovat lopjon, míg a másik a kötőfékre sem nézhet. Jó, lopja csak el azt a lovat. Rendben van. Megteszi. Talán szeret lovagolni. Viszont a kötőfék bámulásában van valami annyira kihívó, hogy az még a legjámborabb szentet is rúgásra ösztönzi.“

—  Joseph Conrad

„Ha az ember meg akar győzni valakit, ne a megfelelő érvekben bízzon, hanem a megfelelő szavakban.“

—  Joseph Conrad

„A szakácskönyv az egyetlen könyv, amiről elmondhatjuk, hogy boldoggá tette az embereket.“

—  Joseph Conrad

„A hajókkal sosincs baj. Csak az emberekkel, akik rajtuk vannak!“

—  Joseph Conrad

„Only a seaman realises to what great extent an entire ship reflects the personality and ability of one individual, her Commanding Officer. To a landsman, this is not understandable—and sometimes it is even difficult for us to comprehend—but it is so! A ship at sea is a different world in herself, and in consideration of the protracted and distant operations of the fleet units, the Navy must place great power, responsibility and trust in the hands of those leaders chosen for command. In each ship there is one man who, in the hour of emergency or peril at sea, can turn to no other man. There is one who alone is ultimately responsible for the safe navigation, engineering performance, accurate gunfire and morale of the ship. He is the Commanding Officer. He is the ship. This is the most difficult and demanding assignment in the Navy. There is not an instant during his tour as Commanding Officer that he can escape the grasp of command responsibility. His privileges, in view of his obligations, are almost ludicrously small; nevertheless, this is the spur which has given the Navy its great leaders. It is a duty which richly deserves the highest, time-honoured title of the seafaring world—Captain.“

—  Joseph Conrad

Command at Sea: the Prestige, Privilege and Burden of Command

„The sea has never been friendly to man. At most it has been the accomplice of human restlessness.“

—  Joseph Conrad, könyv The Mirror of the Sea

Forrás: The Mirror of the Sea (1906), Ch. 35
Kontextus: 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.

„Being a woman is a terribly difficult trade since it consists principally of dealings with men.“

—  Joseph Conrad, könyv Chance

Forrás: Chance (1913) part II, Ch. 5

„The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.“

—  Joseph Conrad, könyv Under Western Eyes

Pt. II, ch. 4
Forrás: Under Western Eyes (1911)

„It's only those who do nothing that make no mistakes, I suppose.“

—  Joseph Conrad, könyv An Outcast of the Islands

Forrás: 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."

„We live as we dream--alone….“

—  Joseph Conrad, könyv Heart of Darkness

Forrás: Heart of Darkness

„It was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice.“

—  Joseph Conrad, könyv Heart of Darkness

Forrás: Heart of Darkness

„Let them think what they liked, but I didn't mean to drown myself. I meant to swim till I sank -- but that's not the same thing.“

—  Joseph Conrad

Forrás: The Secret Sharer and other stories

„My task, which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel--it is, before all, to make you see.“

—  Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim

Változat: My task is to make you hear, to make you feel, and, above all, to make you see. That is all, and it is everything.
Forrás: Lord Jim

„I don't like work--no man does--but I like what is in the work--the chance to find yourself. Your own reality--for yourself not for others--what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means.“

—  Joseph Conrad, könyv Heart of Darkness

Forrás: Heart of Darkness

„All idealization makes life poorer. To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity — it is to destroy it.“

—  Joseph Conrad, könyv The Secret Agent

Forrás: The Secret Agent (1907), Ch. 3
Kontextus: All idealization makes life poorer. To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity — it is to destroy it. Leave that to the moralists, my boy. History is made by men, but they do not make it in their heads. The ideas that are born in their consciousness play an insignificant part in the march of events. History is dominated and determined by the tool and the production — by the force of economic conditions. Capitalism has made socialism, and the laws made by the capitalist for the protection of property are responsible for anarchism. No one can tell what form the social organisation may take in the future. Then why indulge in prophetic phantasies? At best they can only interpret the mind of the prophet, and can have no objective value. Leave that pastime to the moralists, my boy.