All a man can betray is his conscience. Joseph Conrad More Quotes by Joseph Conrad More Quotes From Joseph Conrad Beyond the fence the forest stood up spectrally in the moonlight, and through the dim stir, through the faint sounds of that lamentable courtyard, the silence of the land went home to one's very heart - its mystery, its greatness, the amazing reality of its concealed life. Joseph Conrad homeheartreality For there is nothing mysterious to a seaman unless it be the sea itself, which is the mistress of his existence. Joseph Conrad mistressmysterioussea 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 recordsbodymay The word 'ivory' rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. By Jove! I've never seen anything so unreal in my life. And outside, the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something great and invincible, like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion. Joseph Conrad ivoryairthinking The sky over Patusan was blood-red, immense, streaming like an open vein. An enormous sun nestled crimson amongst the treetops, and the forest below had a black and forbidding face. Joseph Conrad blackskyblood When one has got to make correct entries, one comes to hate those savages--hate them to the death. Joseph Conrad savageshatedarkness In some inland post feel the savagery, the utter savagery, had closed round him--all that mysterious life of the wilderness that stirs in the forest, in the jungles, in the hearts of wild men. There's no initiation either into such mysteries. 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. Imagine the growing regrets, the longing to escape, the powerless disgust, the surrender, the hate. Joseph Conrad regrethateheart The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealth, the germs of empires. Joseph Conrad darknessdreammen The old river in its broad reach rested unruffled at the decline of day, after ages of good service done to the race that peopled its banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity of a waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth. Joseph Conrad racedarknessrivers You can t, in sound morals, condemn a man for taking care of his own integrity. It is his clear duty. And least of all can you condemn an artist pursuing, however humbly and imperfectly, a creative aim. In that interior world where his thought and his emotions go seeking for the experience of imagined adventures, there are no policemen, no law, no pressure of circumstance or dread of opinion to keep him within bounds. Who then is going to say Nay to his temptations if not his conscience? Joseph Conrad integrityadventuremen The very young have, properly speaking, no moments. It is the privilege of early youth to live in advance of its days in all the beautiful continuity of hope which knows no pauses and no introspection. Joseph Conrad privilegeyouthbeautiful It is very difficult to be wholly joyous or wholly sad on this earth. The comic, when it is human, soon takes upon itself a face of pain; and some of our griefs (some only, not all, for it is the capacity for suffering which makes man August in the eyes of men) have their source in weaknesses which must be recognized with smiling com passion as the common inheritance of us all. Joseph Conrad painjoyhappiness 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 depressingfeelingslost 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 tyrantsweatherwind Being myself animated by feelings of affection toward my fellowmen, I am saddened by the modern system of advertising. Whatever evidence it offers of enterprise, ingenuity, impudence, and resource in certain individuals, it proves to my mind the wide prevalence of that form of mental degradation which is called gullibility. Joseph Conrad sadnessmindfeelings In plucking the fruit of memory one runs the risk of spoiling its bloom, especially if it has got to be carried into the market. Joseph Conrad riskrunningmemories That faculty of beholding at a hint the face of his desire and the shape of his dream, without which the earth would know no lover and no adventurer. Joseph Conrad dreamdesireadventure We owe much to the fruitful meditation of our sages, but a sane view of life is, after all, elaborated mainly in the kitchen. Joseph Conrad meditationviewsfood There is no peace and no rest in the development of material interests. They have their law, and their justice. But it is founded on expediency, and is inhuman; it is without rectitude, without the continuity and the force that can be found only in a moral principle. Joseph Conrad principleslawjustice Madness alone is truly terrifying, inasmuch as you cannot placate it by threats, persuasion, or bribes. Joseph Conrad persuasionthreatmadness
