Джозеф Конрад цитаты

„Автор пишет только половину книги: другую половину пишет читатель.“

„Вера в сверхъестественный источник зла не нужна, люди сами вполне способны на любое зло.“

„Судить о человеке надо как по его друзьям, так и по его врагам.“

„Бог — для мужчин, а религия — для женщин.“

„Душа человека способна на всё, ибо в ней содержится всё — всё прошлое и всё грядущее.“

„Вещи могут рассказать о людях значительно больше, чем люди о вещах.“

„Самый ужасный страх люди испытывают перед своим воображением.“

„Сознание людей способно на все, потому что в нем сосредоточено все: и прошлое и будущее.“

„Мне хотелось воздать должное морю, его кораблям и его людям, без которых я не стал бы тем, чем стал. Возродить их к жизни иным путем я не сумел бы, о любом же другом "способе подачи материала" не могло быть и речи.“

„Быть женщиной очень трудно уже потому, что в основном приходится иметь дело с мужчинами.“

„Террорист и полицейский сделаны из одного теста.“

„Сплетни – это то, что никому в открытую не нравится, но чем все наслаждаются.“

„Каждая нация известна в мире главным образом своими пороками.“

„Решенная загадка становится банальностью.“

„Забыть о себе, посвятить всего себя служению своему великому искусству – вот единственный путь для моряка.“

„Хороший вкус лучше плохого, но и плохой лучше, чем отсутствие всякого.“

„Море никогда не меняется и его дела, несмотря на людскую болтовню, окутаны тайной.“

„Для меня море – не просто «водный путь», а близкий друг и товарищ.“

“We live as we dream - alone. While the dream disappears, the life continues painfully.”

“It's only those who do nothing that make no mistakes, I suppose.”

“It was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice.”

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

“No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence--that which makes its truth, its meaning--its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream--alone.”

“Facing it — always facing it — that's the way to get through.”

“We live in the flicker -- may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday.”

“We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness”

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

“They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force--nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.”

“Madness alone is truly terrifying, inasmuch as you cannot placate it by threats, persuasion, or bribes.”

“Above all, we must forgive the unhappy souls who have elected to make the pilgrimage on foot, who skirt the shore and look uncomprehendingly upon the horror of the struggle, the joy of victory, the profound hopelessness of the vanquished.”

“Only a seaman realises to what great extent an entire ship reflects the personality and ability of one individual, her Commanding Officer. To a landsman, this is not understandable—and sometimes it is even difficult for us to comprehend—but it is so! A ship at sea is a different world in herself, and in consideration of the protracted and distant operations of the fleet units, the Navy must place great power, responsibility and trust in the hands of those leaders chosen for command. In each ship there is one man who, in the hour of emergency or peril at sea, can turn to no other man. There is one who alone is ultimately responsible for the safe navigation, engineering performance, accurate gunfire and morale of the ship. He is the Commanding Officer. He is the ship. This is the most difficult and demanding assignment in the Navy. There is not an instant during his tour as Commanding Officer that he can escape the grasp of command responsibility. His privileges, in view of his obligations, are almost ludicrously small; nevertheless, this is the spur which has given the Navy its great leaders. It is a duty which richly deserves the highest, time-honoured title of the seafaring world—Captain.”

“We live as we dream--alone….”

“Let them think what they liked, but I didn't mean to drown myself. I meant to swim till I sank -- but that's not the same thing.”

“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.”

“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. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means.”

“All idealization makes life poorer. To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity — it is to destroy it.”

“All passion is lost now. The world is mediocre, limp, without force.”

“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.”

“Your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.”

“Droll thing life is -- that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself -- that comes too late -- a crop of inextinguishable regrets.”

“He struggled with himself, too. I saw it -- I heard it. I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself.”

“But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself and, by heavens I tell you, it had gone mad.”

“The mind of man is capable of anything.”

“The horror! The horror!”

“The question is not how to get cured, but how to live.”

“Even extreme grief may ultimately vent
itself in violence--but more generally takes the form of apathy”

“Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief in the safety of their surroundings.”