Only in mens imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life. – Joseph Conrad
Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men. – Joseph Conrad
It is very difficult to be wholly joyous or wholly sad on this earth. The comic, when it is human, soon takes upon itself a face of pain; and some of our grieves… have their source in weaknesses which must be recognized with smiling compassion as the common inheritance of us all. – Joseph Conrad
The East Wind, an interloper in the dominions of Westerly Weather, is an impassive-faced tyrant with a sharp poniard held behind his back for a treacherous stab. – Joseph Conrad
Nevertheless the passions, whether violent or not, should never be so expressed as to reach the point of causing disgust and music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music. – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart