--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If circumstances should make it…" description: "\"“If circumstances should make it impossible (temporarily, I hope) for me to be a Russian writer, perhaps I shall be able, like the Pole Joseph Conrad, ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2be/yevgeny-zamyatin-1218_joseph-conrad_if-circumstances-should-make-it-impossib_902165.png" --- # If circumstances should make it impossible (temporarily, I… ![“If circumstances should make it impossible (temporarily, I hope) for me to be a Russian writer, perhaps I shall be able, like the Pole Joseph Conrad, to become for a time an English writer... ("Letter To Stalin")” quote by Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2be/yevgeny-zamyatin-1218_joseph-conrad_if-circumstances-should-make-it-impossib_902165.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2be/yevgeny-zamyatin-1218_joseph-conrad_if-circumstances-should-make-it-impossib_902165.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2be/yevgeny-zamyatin-1218_joseph-conrad_if-circumstances-should-make-it-impossib_902165.png) > ““If circumstances should make it impossible (temporarily, I hope) for me to be a Russian writer, perhaps I shall be able, like the Pole Joseph Conrad, to become for a time an English writer... ("Letter To Stalin")”” [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He imagines being forced to write in another language, comparing himself to Joseph Conrad, suggesting adaptability of artistic identity. **In simple terms:** He might become an English writer if prohibited from writing Russian. Key Takeaway Adapt your craft when circumstances change. Themes creativity politics identity adaptation Mood thoughtful defiant Type literary political When to use this quote - censorship - political pressure - career pivot - literary identity Key Concepts Exile literature language shift Questions to Reflect On - What would you write if you had to change language? - How does language shape your voice? 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Oh the fire of it, more dazzling than the flames of the burning ship, throwing a magic light on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/oh-the-glamour-of-youth-oh-the-fire-of-it-more-dazzling-than-the/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“They wanted facts. Facts! They demanded facts from him, as if facts could explain anything!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/they-wanted-facts-facts-they-demanded-facts-from-him-as-if-facts/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“I had immense plans,' he irresolutely muttered.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/i-had-immense-plans-he-irresolutely-muttered/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“The social organization of Heart of Darkness – captured in the corporate culture of the ‘Company’ – is a metonym for modernity. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-ross/the-social-organization-of-heart-of-darkness-captured-in-the/) [Stephen Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-ross/) ## More by Yevgeny Zamyatin > [“Homo sapiens is only man, in the fullest sense of the word, when his grammar contains no question marks, only exclamation marks, commas, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/homo-sapiens-is-only-man-in-the-fullest-sense-of-the-word-when-his/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [knowledge, absolutely sure of its infallibility, is faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/knowledge-absolutely-sure-of-its-infallibility-is-faith/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [“Do you know this feeling? When you're in an aero speeding up through a blue spiral, the window open, the wind whistling, and there's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/do-you-know-this-feeling-when-you-re-in-an-aero-speeding-up-through-a/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [ “Heretics are the only \[bitter\] remedy against the entropy of human thought. ("Literature, Revolution, and Entropy")” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/heretics-are-the-only-bitter-remedy-against-the-entropy-of-human/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [And everyone must lose his mind, everyone must! The sooner the better! It is essential — I know it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/and-everyone-must-lose-his-mind-everyone-must-the-sooner-the-better/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [“No, I did not understand. But I nodded silently. I was dissolved, I was infinitely small, I was a point... There is, after all,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/no-i-did-not-understand-but-i-nodded-silently-i-was-dissolved-i-was/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [Revolution is everywhere, in everything. There is no final revolution, no final number.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/revolution-is-everywhere-in-everything-there-is-no-final-revolution/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [In adopting the form of the adventure novel, Wells deepened it, raised its intellectual value, and brought into it elements of social philosophy and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/in-adopting-the-form-of-the-adventure-novel-wells-deepened-it-raised/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [“You're in a bad way! Apparently, you have developed a soul." A soul? That strange, ancient, long-forgotten word. We sometimes use the words "soul-stirring,"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/you-re-in-a-bad-way-apparently-you-have-developed-a-soul-a-soul-that/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [“But how was I going to explain my whole being, this whole disease that I've been jotting down in these pages? So I shut…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/but-how-was-i-going-to-explain-my-whole-being-this-whole-disease-that/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [The lilac branches are bowed under the weight of the flowers: blooming is hard, and the most important thing is - to bloom. (“A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/the-lilac-branches-are-bowed-under-the-weight-of-the-flowers-blooming/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [what primitive tastes the ancients must have had if their poets were inspired by those absurd, untidy clumps of mist, idiotically jostling one another…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/what-primitive-tastes-the-ancients-must-have-had-if-their-poets-were/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [“I felt I hadn't breathed since early morning, that my heart had not beat-and only now for the first time I took a breath,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/i-felt-i-hadn-t-breathed-since-early-morning-that-my-heart-had-not/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [“What is the matter -a soul? You say a soul? Oh, damn it! We may soon retrogress even to the cholera epidemics.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/what-is-the-matter-a-soul-you-say-a-soul-oh-damn-it-we-may-soon/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [The literature of the immediate future will inevitably turn away from painting, whether respectably realistic or modern, and from daily life, whether old or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/the-literature-of-the-immediate-future-will-inevitably-turn-away-from/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) [Explore all 263 Yevgeny Zamyatin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) ## More Joseph-conrad quotes > [“The social organization of Heart of Darkness – captured in the corporate culture of the ‘Company’ – is a metonym for modernity. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-ross/the-social-organization-of-heart-of-darkness-captured-in-the/) [Stephen Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-ross/) > [“For the vision of a novelist is both complex and specialised; complex, because behind his characters and apart from them must stand something stable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/for-the-vision-of-a-novelist-is-both-complex-and-specialised-complex/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“They wanted facts. Facts! They demanded facts from him, as if facts could explain anything!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/they-wanted-facts-facts-they-demanded-facts-from-him-as-if-facts/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“I had immense plans,' he irresolutely muttered.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/i-had-immense-plans-he-irresolutely-muttered/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“He is romantic—romantic,” he repeated. “And that is very bad—very bad. . . . Very good, too,” he added. “But is he?” I queried.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/he-is-romantic-romantic-he-repeated-and-that-is-very-bad-very-bad/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“Oh the glamour of youth! Oh the fire of it, more dazzling than the flames of the burning ship, throwing a magic light on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/oh-the-glamour-of-youth-oh-the-fire-of-it-more-dazzling-than-the/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“It was then that Brown took his revenge upon the world which, after twenty years of contemptuous and reckless bullying, refused him the tribute…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/it-was-then-that-brown-took-his-revenge-upon-the-world-which-after/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“...for there is nothing mysterious to a seaman unless it be the sea itself...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/for-there-is-nothing-mysterious-to-a-seaman-unless-it-be-the-sea-2/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“The great wall of vegetation, an exuberant and entangled mass of trunks, branches, leaves, boughs, festoons, motionless in the moonlight, was like a rioting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/the-great-wall-of-vegetation-an-exuberant-and-entangled-mass-of/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“It was a wonderful experience. 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