Lord Jim

Joseph Conrad, 1900

Joseph Conrad’s novel of Jim, a young English seaman who, as chief mate of a ship carrying pilgrims, abandons it in a moment of panic, and of his search to redeem himself; much of it is told by the seaman Marlow.

Start reading46 chapters, about 131,000 words

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It’s extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it’s just as well; and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome.
Chapter 13In context
- Life & Death
- Thinking
The real significance of crime is in its being a breach of faith with the community of mankind
Chapter 14In context
- Justice
- Laws
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.
Chapter 21In context
- Faith
- Nature
Frankly, it is not my words that I mistrust but your minds. I could be eloquent were I not afraid you fellows had starved your imaginations to feed your bodies. I do not mean to be offensive; it is respectable to have no illusions⁠—and safe⁠—and profitable⁠—and dull.
Chapter 21In context
- Thinking
How does one kill fear, I wonder? How do you shoot a spectre through the heart, slash off its spectral head, take it by its spectral throat?
Chapter 33In context
- Fear
It is not Justice the servant of men, but accident, hazard, Fortune⁠—the ally of patient Time⁠—that holds an even and scrupulous balance.
Chapter 34In context
The human heart is vast enough to contain all the world. It is valiant enough to bear the burden, but where is the courage that would cast it off?
Chapter 34In context
- Courage
- Emotion
Vanity plays lurid tricks with our memory
Chapter 41In context
- Pride

Famous quotes

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