Quotations from *Under Western Eyes*, 8 of 12
Joseph Conrad
1857-1924 Polish/British

His uneasiness, his exasperation, his scorn were blunted at last by all these trying hours. It seemed to him that now they were blunted for ever.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

"Good, that," he said to himself, while her eyes rested upon him, black and impenetrable like the mental caverns where revolutionary thought should sit plotting the violent way of its dream of changes. As if anything could be changed! In this world of men nothing can be changed--neither happiness nor misery. They can only be displaced at the cost of corrupted consciences and broken lives--a futile game for arrogant philosophers and sanguinary triflers.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

It gave him a feeling of triumphant pleasure to deceive her out of her own mouth. The epigrammatic saying that speech has been given to us for the purpose of concealing our thoughts came into his mind.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

What had society to say to him? Be submissive and be honest. If you rebel I shall kill you. If you steal I shall imprison you. But if you suffer I have nothing for you--nothing except perhaps a beggarly dole of bread--but no consolation for your trouble, no respect for your manhood, no pity for the sorrows of your miserable life.

And so he laboured, he suffered, and he died.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

In these last words there was neither pride nor sadness. The bitterness too was gone.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

How un-Russian she looked, thought Razumov.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

"Inquire, investigate! I defy you, but I will not be played with."

He had spoken such words before. He had been driven to cry them out in the face of other suspicions. It was an infernal cycle bringing round that protest like a fatal necessity of his existence. But it was no use. He would be always played with. Luckily life does not last for ever.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

The choking fumes of falsehood had taken him by the throat--the thought of being condemned to struggle on and on in that tainted atmosphere without the hope of ever renewing his strength by a breath of fresh air.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

Razumov, listening quietly, thought: "It may be that she is trying to lull my suspicions to sleep. On the other hand, it is obvious that most of them are fools." He moved aside a couple of paces and, folding his arms on his breast, leaned back against the stone pillar of the gate.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

No four-footed beast could stand the filth and wretchedness so many human beings were condemned to suffer from in Russia.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes