Quote

I let him run on, this papier-maché Mephistopheles, and it seemed to me that if I tried I could poke my forefinger through him, and would find nothing inside but a little loose dirt, maybe.

Joseph Conrad

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Joseph Conrad
Age: 66 †
Born: 1857
Born: December 3
Died: 1924
Died: August 3
Author
Autobiographer
Essayist
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Screenwriter
Writer
Berdichev
Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski
Inside
Forefinger
Maybe
Mach
Running
Mephistopheles
Littles
Poke
Find
Loose
Little
Dirt
Nothing
Seemed
Would
Tried
Papier

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The blight of futility that lies in wait for men's speeches had fallen upon our conversation and made it a thing of empty sounds.
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Art is long and life is short, and success is very far off.
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You can't, in sound morals, condemn a man for taking care of his own integrity. It is his clear duty.
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Necessity, they say, is mother of invention, but fear, too, is not barren of ingenious suggestions.
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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.
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Let a fool be made serviceable according to his folly.
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The ocean has the conscienceless temper of a savage autocrat spoiled by much adulation
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For a moment I had a view of a world that seemed to wear a vast and dismal aspect of disorder, while, in truth, thanks to our unwearied efforts, it is as sunny an arrangement of small conveniences as the mind of man can conceive.
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The sea - this truth must be confessed - has no generosity. No display of manly qualities - courage, hardihood, endurance, faithfulness - has ever been known to touch its irresponsible consciousness of power.
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All a man can betray is his conscience.
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A fool has more ideas than a wise man can foresee.
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Some of us, regarding the ocean with understanding and affection, have seen it looking old, as if the immemorial ages had been stirred up from the undisturbed bottom of ooze. For it is a gale of wind that makes the sea look old.
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Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men.
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It is not Justice the servant of men, but accident, hazard, Fortune-the ally of patient Time-that holds an even and scrupulous balance.
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It's only those who do nothing that make no mistakes, I suppose.
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Gossip is what no one claims to like, but everybody enjoys.
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History repeats itself, but the special call of an art which has passed away is never reproduced. It is as utterly gone out of the world as the song of a destroyed wild bird.
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