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Any fool can carry on, but a wise man knows how to shorten sail in time.

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
Inspirational
Yacht
Men
Sailing
Time
Sail
Boat
Carry
Fool
Wise
Shorten
Funny
Nautical

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I saw him open his mouth wide. . . as though he had wanted to swallow all the air, all the earth, all the men before him.
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Ah! These commercial interests -- spoiling the finest life under the sun. Why must the sea be used for trade -- and for war as well?...It would have been so much nicer just to sail about, with here and there a port and a bit of land to stretch one's legs on, buy a few books and get a change of cooking for a while.
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For there is nothing mysterious to a seaman unless it be the sea itself, which is the mistress of his existence.
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The world of finance is a mysterious world in which, incredible as the fact may appear, evaporation precedes liquidation.
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Yet, when one thinks of it, diplomacy without force is a but a rotten reed to lean upon.
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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.
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And suddenly I rejoiced in the great security of the sea as compared with the unrest of the land, in my choice of that untempted life presenting no disquieting problems, invested with an elementary moral beauty by the absolute straightforwardness of its appeal and by the singleness of its purpose.
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Gossip is what no one claims to like, but everybody enjoys.
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In the empty immensity of earth, sky, and water, there she was, incomprehensible, firing into a continent.
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In plucking the fruit of memory one runs the risk of spoiling its bloom, especially if it has got to be carried into the market.
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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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Follow your bliss. Find where it is and don't be afraid to follow it.
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There is something haunting in the light of the moon it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery.
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As a general rule, a reputation is built on manner as much as on achievement.
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Who would care to question the ground of forgiveness or compassion.
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He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.
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Give me the right word and the right accent and I will move the world.
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The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil water-way leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky--seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.
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