Joseph Conrad

"All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind."

"Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men."

"Each blade of grass has its spot on earth whence it draws its life, its strength; and so is man rooted to the land from which he draws his faith together with his life."

"Some great men owe most of their greatness to the ability of detecting in those they destine for their tools the exact quality of strength that matters for their work."

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

"The last thing a woman will consent to discover in a man whom she loves, or on whom she simply depends, is want of courage."

"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."

"This magnificent butterfly finds a little heap of dirt and sits still on it; but man will never on his heap of mud keep still."

"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."