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Portrait of Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad

(1857–1924) Science Fiction Writer Second Polish Republic

645 quotes in 1614 categories

Hunters chase gold along a misty stream, swords glinting in the sunrise. The quotes talk about quiet nights, distant drums, and the wild forest that stirs the heart. They also remind us that belief shapes character and that even a frightened fool can feel safe.

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Joseph Conrad was a science fiction writer from Second Polish Republic, best known for Heart of Darkness.

Quick Facts About Joseph Conrad

Born: December 3, 1857
Died: August 3, 1924
Nationality: Second Polish Republic
Profession: Science Fiction Writer
Notable works: Heart of Darkness
Known for: Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, The Nigger of the 'Narcissus', Lord Jim, The Secret Sharer
Spouse: Jessie George

About Joseph Conrad

He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language. Though he did not become fluent in English until his twenties, he developed a distinctive style that brought a non‑English sensibility into English literature.

Quotes by Joseph Conrad

“The horror! The horror!”

Horror

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“Fine fellows—cannibals—in their place.”

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Vanity plays lurid tricks with our memory.

Fame

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Reality, as usual, beats fiction out of sight.

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“He was absurd to the point of inspiration.”

Absurd

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“undemonstrative in a burly fat-pig style”

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All a man can betray is his conscience.

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We live as we dream--alone…

Dream

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Any fool can carry on, but only the wise man knows how to shorten sail.

Fool

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

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“breathe dead hippo, so to speak, and not be contaminated.”

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“And after all, one does not die of it." "Die of what?" I asked swiftly. "Of being afraid.”

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“What saves us is efficiency—the devotion to efficiency.”

Devotion

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“It was like a weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares.”

Journey

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Follow your bliss. Find where it is and don't be afraid to follow it.

Bliss

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I have a voice, too, and for good or evil mine is the speech that cannot be silenced

Communication

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

Action

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“(law is) the pretty branding instrument invented by the overfed to protect themselves against the hungry ?”

Food

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“They will be bound to make some arrests, he thought, with something resembling virtuous indignation, for the even tenor of his revolutionary…

Life

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It is to be remarked that a good many people are born curiously unfitted for the fate waiting them on this earth.

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“I was anxious to deal with this shadow by myself alone -- and to this day I don't know why I was…

Anxious

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“It is universally understood that, as if it were nothing more substantial than vapor floating in the sky, every emotion of a…

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“No wonder there are bandits in the Campo when there are none but thieves, swindlers, and sanguinary macaques to rule us...”

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“All the pilgrims rushed out to see. I remained, and went on with my dinner. I believe I was considered brutally callous.…

Dinner

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It’s extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it’s just as well;…

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“I understand better the meaning of his stare, that could not see the flame of the candle, but was wide enough to…

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We are snared into doing things for which we get called names, and things for which we get hanged, and yet the…

Condemnation

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“But the truth was that he died from solitude, the enemy known but to a few on this Earth, and whom only…

Solitude

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Hang ideas! They are tramps, vagabonds, knocking at the back-door of your mind, each taking a little of your substance, each carrying…

Belief

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“Liberty of imagination should be the most precious possession of a novelist. To try voluntarily to discover the fettering dogmas of its…

Absurdity

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The old river in its broad reach rested unruffled at the decline of day, after ages of good service done to the…

Age

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“I thought his memory was like the other memories of the dead that accumulate in every man's life,—a vague impress on the…

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“But in a gale, the silent machinery of a sailing-ship would catch not only the power, but the wild and exulting voice…

Music

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“One evening coming in with a candle I was startled to hear him say a little tremulously, "I am lying here in…

Death

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“These little things make all the great difference. When they are gone you must fall back upon your own innate strength, upon…

Fool

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“His last word—to live with,' she murmured. 'Don't you understand I loved him—I loved him—I loved him!' "I pulled myself together and…

Somber

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“There too he had been treated with revolting injustice. His struggles, his privations,his hard work to raise himself in the social scale,…

Faith

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The mysteries of a universe made of drops of fire and clods of mud do not concern us in the least. The…

Anxious

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Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never seen before, and hope never to see again. Oh, I…

Change

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“Once, I remember, we came upon a man-of-war anchored off the coast. There wasn't even a shed there, and she was shelling…

Enemies

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Joseph Conrad by topic

Life (91) Nature (61) Men (48) Time (45) Truth (32) Dreams (31) Mind (30) Love (28) Death (27) Faith (26) Art (25) Artist (24) Sea (23) River (21) Fear (20) Psychology (19) Earth (19) Dream (19) Religion (18) Heart (18)