Quotations from *Under Western Eyes*, 3 of 12
Joseph Conrad
1857-1924 Polish/British

Razumov thought to himself that this man entrusted with so much arbitrary power must have believed what he said or else he could not have gone on bearing the responsibility.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

It seemed to him bizarre that secrecy should play such a large part in the comfort and safety of lives.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

The trivialities of daily existence were an armour for the soul.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

"I suppose," thought Razumov, "that if I had made up my mind to blow out my brains on the landing I would be going up these stairs as quietly as I am doing it now. What's a man to do?"
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

Several times that night he woke up shivering from a dream of walking through drifts of snow in a Russia where he was as completely alone as any betrayed autocrat could be; an immense, wintry Russia which, somehow, his view could embrace in all its enormous expanse as if it were a map.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

In its pride of numbers, in its strange pretensions of sanctity, and in the secret readiness to abase itself in suffering, the spirit of Russia is the spirit of cynicism. It informs the declarations of her statesmen, the theories of her revolutionists, and the mystic vaticinations of prophets to the point of making freedom look like a form of debauch, and the Christian virtues themselves appear actually indecent....
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

The light coming through the window seemed strangely cheerless, containing no promise as the light of each new day should for a young man.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

He did nothing all that day; he neglected even to brush his hair. The idea of going out never occurred to him—and if he did not start a connected train of thought it was not because he was unable to think. It was because he was not interested enough.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

No doubt he was looking forward to the consummation of his martyrdom. A man who resigns himself to kill need not go very far for resignation to die.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

He did not attempt to put his papers in order, either that evening or the next day—which he spent at home in a state of peculiar irresolution. This irresolution bore upon the question whether he should continue to live—neither more nor less. But its nature was very far removed from the hesitation of a man contemplating suicide.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

Razumov envied the materialism of the thief and the passion of the incorrigible lover. The consequences of their actions were always clear and their lives remained their own.
—Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes