Skip to content

Quotes from Under Western Eyes — Joseph Conrad

1857–1924 England

← All quotes by Joseph Conrad

14 quotes

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

Under Western Eyes (1911)

A man's real life is that accorded to him in the thoughts of other men by reason of respect or natural love.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

Nations it may be have fashioned their Governments, but the Governments have paid them back in the same coin.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

What all men are really after is some form, or perhaps only some formula, of peace.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

Let a fool be made serviceable according to his folly.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

A man's most open actions have a secret side to them.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

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.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

Words, as is well known, are the great foes of reality.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

I take it that what all men are really after is some form or perhaps only some formula of peace.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

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.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

They talk of a man betraying his country, his friends, his sweetheart. There must be a moral bond first. All a man can betray is his conscience.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

Perhaps life is just that... a dream and a fear.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

Who knows what true happiness 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.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

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.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Joseph Conrad (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.