Joseph Conrad Men Quotations

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

Each blade of grass has its spot on earth whence it draws its life, its strength; and so is man rooted to the land from which he draws his faith together with his life.

For all that has been said of the love that certain natures (on shore) have professed for it, for all the celebrations it has 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.

To a teacher of languages there comes a time when the world is but a place of many words and man appears a mere talking animal not much more wonderful than a parrot.

I don't like work... but I like what is in work - the chance to find yourself. Your own reality - for yourself, not for others - which no other man can ever know.

They talk of a man betraying his country, his friends, his sweetheart. There must be a moral bond first. All a man can betray is his conscience.

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

You can't, in sound morals, condemn a man for taking care of his own integrity. It is his clear duty.

There are men here and there to whom the whole of life is like an after-dinner hour with a cigar; easy, pleasant, empty, perhaps enlivened by some fable of strife to be forgotten - before the end is told - even if there happens to be any end to it.

Some great men owe most of their greatness to the ability of detecting in those they destine for their tools the exact quality of strength that matters for their work.

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

As in political so in literary action a man wins friends for himself mostly by the passion of his prejudices and the consistent narrowness of his outlook.

An artist is a man of action, whether he creates a personality, invents an expedient, or finds the issue of a complicated situation.

A man's most open actions have a secret side to them.

You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends.

A man's real life is that accorded to him in the thoughts of other men by reason of respect or natural love.

This magnificent butterfly finds a little heap of dirt and sits still on it; but man will never on his heap of mud keep still.

I dare say I am compelled, unconsciously compelled, now to write volume after volume, as in past years I was compelled to go to sea, voyage after voyage. Leaves must follow upon each other as leagues used to follow in the days gone by, on and on to the appointed end, which, being truth itself, is one -- one for all men and for all occupations.

What all men are really after is some form, or perhaps only some formula, of peace.

This could have occurred nowhere but in England, where men and sea interpenetrate, so to speak.

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary: men alone are quite capable of every wickedness

For every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce life early, and the human race come to an end

The blight of futility that lies in wait for men's speeches had fallen upon our conversation and made it a thing of empty sounds.

The last thing a woman will consent to in a man whom she loves, or on whom she simply depends, is want of courage.

God is for men, and religion for women.

It is my belief no man ever understands quite his own artful dodges to escape from the grim shadow of self knowledge.

The mind of man is capable of anything.

A writer without interest or sympathy for the foibles of his fellow man is not conceivable as a writer.

A man is a worker. If he is not that he is nothing.

Any fool can carry on, but a wise man knows how to shorten sail in time.

All a man can betray is his conscience.

Being a lady is a frightfully troublesome assignment, since it comprises mainly in managing men.

I remember my youth... the feeling that I could last forever, outlast the sea, the earth, and all men.

One wonders that there can be found a man courageous enough to occupy the post. It is a matter of meditation. Having given it a few minutes I come to the conclusion in the serenity of my heart and the peace of my conscience that he must be either an extreme megalomaniac or an utterly unconscious being.

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

It is not Justice the servant of men, but accident, hazard, Fortune-the ally of patient Time-that holds an even and scrupulous balance.

Of all the inanimate objects, of all men's creations, books are the nearest to us for they contain our very thoughts, our ambitions, our indignations, our illusions, our fidelity to the truth, and our persistent leanings to error. But most of all they resemble us in their precious hold on life.

For a moment I had a view of a world that seemed to wear a vast and dismal aspect of disorder, while, in truth, thanks to our unwearied efforts, it is as sunny an arrangement of small conveniences as the mind of man can conceive.

It is when we try to grapple with another man's intimate need that we perceive how incomprehensible, wavering, and misty are the beings that share with us the sight of the stars and the warmth of the sun.

Life knows us not and we do not know life—-we don’t know even our own thoughts. Half the words we use have no meaning whatever and of the other half each man understands each word after the fashion of his own folly and conceit. Faith is a myth and beliefs shift like mists on the shore; thoughts vanish; words, once pronounced, die; and the memory of yesterday is as shadowy as the hope of tomorrow

It is the mark of an inexperienced man not to believe in luck.

Things and men have always a certain sense, a certain side by which they must be got hold of if one wants to obtain a solid grasp and a perfect command.

Every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce life early and the human race come to an end.

I remember my youth and the feeling that will never come back any more /the feeling that I could last for ever, outlast the sea, the earth, and all men; the deceitful feeling that lures us on to joys, to perils, to love, to vain effort /to death; the triumphant conviction of strength, the heat of life in the handful of dust, the glow in the heart that with every year grows dim, grows cold, grows small, and expires /and expires, too soon, too soon /before life itself

Never test another man by your own weakness.

The mind of man is capable of anything--because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future. What was there after all? Joy, fear, sorrow, devotion, valor, rage--who can tell?--but truth--truth stripped of its cloak of time.

I saw him open his mouth wide. . . as though he had wanted to swallow all the air, all the earth, all the men before him.

The moon had spread over everything a thin layer of silver - over the rank grass, over the mud, upon the wall of matted vegetation standing higher than the wall of a temple, over the great river I could see through a sombre gap glittering, glittering, as it flowed broadly by without a murmur. All this was great, expectant, mute, while the man jabbered about himself.

I can't tell if a straw ever saved a drowning man, but I know that a mere glance is enough to make dspair pause. For in truth, we who are creatures of impulse, are creatures of despair.

The interior deprives men of their senses. Here, the eerie stillness of the wilderness and the darkness of night render the men both deaf and blind. Without eyes or ears, they have no frame of reference-and without a frame of reference, they have no clear identities.

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?

A fool has more ideas than a wise man can foresee.

The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealth, the germs of empires.