718 Quotes by Joseph Conrad

Fine fellows – cannibals – in their place. They were men one could work with, and I am grateful to them.

Mistah Kurtz – he dead.

What captivated my fancy was that I, Axel Heyst, the most detached of creatures in this earthly captivity, the veriest tramp on this earth, an indifferent stroller going through the world’s bustle – that I should have been there to step into the situation of an agent of Providence. I, a man of universal scorn and unbelief...

We live as we dream – alone. While the dream disappears, the life continues painfully.

But what I felt most was my being a stranger to the ship; and if all the truth must be told, I was somewhat of a stranger to myself.

It’s only those who do nothing that make no mistakes, I suppose.

The commonest sort of fortitude prevents us from becoming criminals in a legal sense; it is from weakness unknown, but perhaps suspected, as in some parts of the world you suspect a deadly snake in every bush – from weakness that may lie hidden, watched or unwatched, prayed against or manfully scorned, repressed or maybe ignored more than half a lifetime, not one of us is safe.

Rich or poor, strong or weak, who among us has not begged God for a second chance?

His mind, cool, alert, watched it sink there with a sort of vague concern at the absurdity of the occupation, till it rested at the bottom, deep down, where our unexpressed longings lie.