--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I can't tell if a straw ever saved a…" description: "\"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 ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ac/joseph-conrad-336_creatures_i-can-t-tell-if-a-straw-ever-saved-a-dro_985045.jpg" --- # I can't tell if a straw ever saved a drowning man, but I… ![“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.” quote by Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ac/joseph-conrad-336_creatures_i-can-t-tell-if-a-straw-ever-saved-a-dro_985045.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ac/joseph-conrad-336_creatures_i-can-t-tell-if-a-straw-ever-saved-a-dro_985045.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ac/joseph-conrad-336_creatures_i-can-t-tell-if-a-straw-ever-saved-a-dro_985045.jpg) > “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.” [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A fleeting glance can halt despair, highlighting impulse’s role in suffering. **In simple terms:** A glance can pause despair. Key Takeaway Value mindful perception. Themes despair impulse hope Mood melancholic hopeful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - literary analysis - mental health counseling - creative writing - philosophical debate Key Concepts existentialism psychology Questions to Reflect On - What moments have you paused despair? - How does impulse influence your choices? A Different Perspective Impulse can also lead to rash decisions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Despair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/despair/) [Gothic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gothic/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Pauses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pauses/) ## Related quotes > [A drowning man will clutch at a straw.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-more/a-drowning-man-will-clutch-at-a-straw/) [Thomas More](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-more/) > [I told him you are a man of my dreams. You saved me from drowning in the streams. I know we're really gonna last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cheryl-cole/i-told-him-you-are-a-man-of-my-dreams-you-saved-me-from-drowning-in/) [Cheryl Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cheryl-cole/) > [Saved from drowning when I'll see you on the edge! Hurricanesare very fast you can get across?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/saved-from-drowning-when-i-ll-see-you-on-the-edge-hurricanesare-very/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“She comes to life with a soft exhausted sound, like someone saved from drowning.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-salter/she-comes-to-life-with-a-soft-exhausted-sound-like-someone-saved-from/) [James Salter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-salter/) > [Hope you know you'll always have a place to call your home. Still, I can't help but think, I could have saved you from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cheryl-cole/hope-you-know-you-ll-always-have-a-place-to-call-your-home-still-i/) [Cheryl Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cheryl-cole/) > [Heroine: Girl in a book who is saved from drowning by a hero and marries him next week, but if it was to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/heroine-girl-in-a-book-who-is-saved-from-drowning-by-a-hero-and-2/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [I once saved someone from drowning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-van-booy/i-once-saved-someone-from-drowning/) [Simon Van Booy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-van-booy/) > [My sister saved me from drowning. I shouted at her because she pulled me out of the pool and hurt my arm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-millican/my-sister-saved-me-from-drowning-i-shouted-at-her-because-she-pulled/) [Sarah Millican](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-millican/) > [“You’re my life raft in an endless ocean. You saved me from drowning. You saved me from myself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/k-a-linde/you-re-my-life-raft-in-an-endless-ocean-you-saved-me-from-drowning/) [K.A. Linde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/k-a-linde/) > [“If I gave you my number would it still be the same If I saved you from drowning?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tegan-quin/if-i-gave-you-my-number-would-it-still-be-the-same-if-i-saved-you/) [Tegan Quin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tegan-quin/) > [This piece was a lifeajcket that saved me from drowning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerrie/this-piece-was-a-lifeajcket-that-saved-me-from-drowning/) Gerrie > [“Never put your have out to a drowning man. I saw that on an HV special once. If you do, they grab onto you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-kauffman/never-put-your-have-out-to-a-drowning-man-i-saw-that-on-an-hv-special/) May Kauffman > [It's only water," she said. "Tell that to a drowning man," Giddon said.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristin-cashore/it-s-only-water-she-said-tell-that-to-a-drowning-man-giddon-said/) [Kristin Cashore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristin-cashore/) > [“There is a major difference between a scuba diver and a drowning man. One is in control of his experiences, the other is in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laren-grey-umphlett/there-is-a-major-difference-between-a-scuba-diver-and-a-drowning-man/) [Laren Grey Umphlett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laren-grey-umphlett/) > [“Shame isn't a quiet grey cloud, shame is a drowning man who claws his way on top of you, scratching and tearing your skin,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirsty-eagar/shame-isn-t-a-quiet-grey-cloud-shame-is-a-drowning-man-who-claws-his/) [Kirsty Eagar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirsty-eagar/) ## More by Joseph Conrad > [“Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/hunters-for-gold-or-pursuers-of-fame-they-all-had-gone-out-on-that/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [The good author is he who contemplates without marked joy or excessive sorrow the adventures of his soul amongst criticisms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/the-good-author-is-he-who-contemplates-without-marked-joy-or/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“Let the earth and the sea each have its own.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/let-the-earth-and-the-sea-each-have-its-own/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [He hated all this, and somehow he couldn't get away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/he-hated-all-this-and-somehow-he-couldn-t-get-away/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“A fool, what with sheer fright and fine sentiments, is always safe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/a-fool-what-with-sheer-fright-and-fine-sentiments-is-always-safe/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/the-mind-of-man-is-capable-of-anything-because-everything-is-in-it/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/few-men-realize-that-their-life-the-very-essence-of-their-character/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“Perhaps on some quiet night the tremor of far-off drums, sinking, swelling, a tremor vast, faint; a sound weird, appealing, suggestive and wild -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/perhaps-on-some-quiet-night-the-tremor-of-far-off-drums-sinking/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“All that mysterious life of the wilderness that stirs in the forest, in the jungles, in the hearts of wild men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/all-that-mysterious-life-of-the-wilderness-that-stirs-in-the-forest/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“The fascination of the abomination—you know.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/the-fascination-of-the-abomination-you-know/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [It's only those who do nothing that make no mistakes, I suppose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/it-s-only-those-who-do-nothing-that-make-no-mistakes-i-suppose/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“Thieving was not a sheer absurdity. It was a form of human industry, perverse indeed, but still an industry exercised in an industrious world;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/thieving-was-not-a-sheer-absurdity-it-was-a-form-of-human-industry/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [I found myself back in the sepulchral city resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets to filch a little money from each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/i-found-myself-back-in-the-sepulchral-city-resenting-the-sight-of/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [Society was calling to its accomplished child to come, to be taken care of, to be instructed, to be judged, to be condemned; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/society-was-calling-to-its-accomplished-child-to-come-to-be-taken/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [I was constantly watching myself, my secret self, as dependent on my actions as my own personality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/i-was-constantly-watching-myself-my-secret-self-as-dependent-on-my/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) [Explore all 645 Joseph Conrad quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) ## More Creatures quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [Almost everywhere we find . . . the use of various coercive measures, to rid ourselves as quickly as possible of the child withinus--i.e.,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-miller/almost-everywhere-we-find-the-use-of-various-coercive-measures-to-rid/) [Alice Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-miller/) > [We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-chavez/we-need-in-a-special-way-to-work-twice-as-hard-to-help-people/) [Cesar Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-chavez/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [I could not have slept tonight if I had left that helpless little creature to perish on the ground.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-could-not-have-slept-tonight-if-i-had-left-that-helpless-little/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ananda-coomaraswamy/no-creature-can-attain-a-higher-grade-of-nature-without-ceasing-to/) [Ananda Coomaraswamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ananda-coomaraswamy/) > [Most people are sensitized to animals through their cats and dogs, but for me it was a flounder. I used to go fishing with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-mathews/most-people-are-sensitized-to-animals-through-their-cats-and-dogs-but/) [Dan Mathews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-mathews/) > [...it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/it-was-a-huge-creature-luminous-ghastly-and-spectral-i-have-cross/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [How do we know that we have a right to kill creatures that we are so little above, as dogs, for our curiosity or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/how-do-we-know-that-we-have-a-right-to-kill-creatures-that-we-are-so/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [My dad's family were political and he was always a theatrical creature, whereas my mum is really musical and her father was the touring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-jones/my-dad-s-family-were-political-and-he-was-always-a-theatrical/) [Grace Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-jones/) > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [What greater weakness can there be than not to know what is the source of one's being, of one's life, of one's senses, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/what-greater-weakness-can-there-be-than-not-to-know-what-is-the/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-love-for-all-living-creatures-is-the-most-noble-attribute-of-man/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Children are not a zoo of entertainingly exotic creatures, but an array of mirrors in which the human predicament leaps out at us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/children-are-not-a-zoo-of-entertainingly-exotic-creatures-but-an/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [When I was in my teens I had a series of intensely religious experiences. They deepened my sense of God as the creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/when-i-was-in-my-teens-i-had-a-series-of-intensely-religious/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) Browse all 3,703 Creatures quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joseph Conrad" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/i-can-t-tell-if-a-straw-ever-saved-a-drowning-man-but-i-know-that-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Creatures" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/i-can-t-tell-if-a-straw-ever-saved-a-drowning-man-but-i-know-that-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ac/joseph-conrad-336_creatures_i-can-t-tell-if-a-straw-ever-saved-a-dro_985045.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ac/joseph-conrad-336_creatures_i-can-t-tell-if-a-straw-ever-saved-a-dro_985045.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ac/joseph-conrad-336_creatures_i-can-t-tell-if-a-straw-ever-saved-a-dro_985045.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I can't tell if a straw ever saved a drowning man, but I know that a mere glance is enough to make dspair…” — Joseph Conrad", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Joseph Conrad", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I can't tell if a straw...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/i-can-t-tell-if-a-straw-ever-saved-a-drowning-man-but-i-know-that-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/i-can-t-tell-if-a-straw-ever-saved-a-drowning-man-but-i-know-that-a/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```