The Wisdom Letter #076

5 quotes from Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)

✹ For today's Wisdom Letter, we have carefully curated five bite-sized quotes from the Polish-British novelist, Joseph Conrad (1857–1924).

Quote № 01:

“I remember my youth and the feeling that will never come back any more — the feeling that I could last for ever, outlast the sea, the earth, and all men; the deceitful feeling that lures us on to joys, to perils, to love, to vain effort — to death; the triumphant conviction of strength, the heat of life in the handful of dust, the glow in the heart that with every year grows dim, grows cold, grows small, and expires — and expires, too soon — too soon before life itself.”

— Joseph Conrad, “Youth”

Quote № 02:

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

— Joseph Conrad, “The Secret Agent”

Quote № 03:

“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. That — and no more, and it is everything. If I succeed, you shall find there according to your deserts: encouragement, consolation, fear, charm — all you demand; and, perhaps, also that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask.”

— Joseph Conrad

Quote № 04:

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

— Joseph Conrad, “An Outcast of the Islands”

Quote № 05:

“Words, as is well known, are the great foes of reality. I have been for many years a teacher of languages. It is an occupation which at length becomes fatal to whatever share of imagination, observation, and insight an ordinary person may be heir to. 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.”

— Joseph Conrad, “Under Western Eyes”

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✺ Today’s Questions

Three philosophical questions to foster your curiosity:

Question № 01:

How does the concept of time influence our perception of youth, and can youthfulness be preserved through one's mindset and actions?

Question № 02:

How does language shape our perception of reality, and to what extent does it limit or expand our understanding of the world?

Question № 03:

How does the act of writing transform the writer's understanding of their own thoughts and emotions?

✽ Thank you for reading today’s Wisdom Letter.

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