The Quotes canon
Sourced and curated.
Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Artist and audience2 quotes
One writes only half the book; the other half is with the reader. — Joseph Conrad · 1897My task... To make you hear, to make you feel—it is, before all, to make you see. That—and no more, and it is everything. — Joseph Conrad · 1897Anti-imperialism1 quote
The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it. — Joseph Conrad · 1899Art1 quote
A work that aspires, however humbly, to the condition of art should carry its justification in every line. — Joseph Conrad · 1897Artists1 quote
But the artist appeals to that part of our being which is not dependent on wisdom: to that in us which is a gift and not an acquisition—and, therefore, more permanently enduring. He speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives: to our sense of pity, and beauty, and pain. — Joseph Conrad · 1897Conscientious people1 quote
The scrupulous and the just, the noble, humane, and devoted natures; the unselfish and the intelligent may begin a movement—but it passes away from them. They are not the leaders of a revolution. They are its victims. — Joseph Conrad · 1911Existential solitude1 quote
Who knows what true loneliness is—not the conventional word, but the naked terror? To the lonely themselves it wears a mask. The most miserable outcast hugs some memory or some illusion. Now and then a fatal conjunction of events may lift the veil for an instant. For an instant only. No human being could bear a steady view of moral solitude without going mad. — Joseph Conrad · 1911God and man1 quote
A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. — Joseph Conrad · 1911Human nature1 quote
A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. — Joseph Conrad · 1911Hunger1 quote
No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist where hunger is; and as to superstition, beliefs, and what you may call principles, they are less than chaff in a breeze. — Joseph Conrad · 1899Hunger and desperation1 quote
No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist where hunger is; and as to superstition, beliefs, and what you may call principles, they are less than chaff in a breeze. — Joseph Conrad · 1899Imperialism1 quote
The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it. — Joseph Conrad · 1899Interpretation and analysis1 quote
One writes only half the book; the other half is with the reader. — Joseph Conrad · 1897Language1 quote
There is a weird power in a spoken word... And a word carries far—very far—deals destruction through time as the bullets go flying through space. — Joseph Conrad · 1900Loneliness1 quote
Who knows what true loneliness is—not the conventional word, but the naked terror? To the lonely themselves it wears a mask. The most miserable outcast hugs some memory or some illusion. Now and then a fatal conjunction of events may lift the veil for an instant. For an instant only. No human being could bear a steady view of moral solitude without going mad. — Joseph Conrad · 1911Looking back1 quote
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. — Joseph Conrad · 1898Mistakes1 quote
It's only those who do nothing that make no mistakes. — Joseph Conrad · 1896Power of art1 quote
But the artist appeals to that part of our being which is not dependent on wisdom: to that in us which is a gift and not an acquisition—and, therefore, more permanently enduring. He speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives: to our sense of pity, and beauty, and pain. — Joseph Conrad · 1897Power of literature1 quote
My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel—it is, before all, to make you see. That—and no more, and it is everything. — Joseph Conrad · 1897Power of words1 quote
There is a weird power in a spoken word... And a word carries far—very far—deals destruction through time as the bullets go flying through space. — Joseph Conrad · 1900Problem of evil1 quote
A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. — Joseph Conrad · 1911Revolution1 quote
The scrupulous and the just, the noble, humane, and devoted natures; the unselfish and the intelligent may begin a movement—but it passes away from them. They are not the leaders of a revolution. They are its victims. — Joseph Conrad · 1911Solitude1 quote
We live, as we dream—alone. — Joseph Conrad · 1899The human condition1 quote
We live, as we dream—alone. — Joseph Conrad · 1899Value of work1 quote
I don't like work—no man does—but I like what is in the work—the chance to find yourself. Your own reality—for yourself, not for others—what no other man can ever know. — Joseph Conrad · 1899Work1 quote
I don't like work—no man does—but I like what is in the work—the chance to find yourself. Your own reality—for yourself, not for others—what no other man can ever know. — Joseph Conrad · 1899Youth1 quote
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. — Joseph Conrad · 1898