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
You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends. – Joseph Conrad
Any work that aspires, however humbly, to the condition of art should carry its justification in every line. – Joseph Conrad
This magnificent butterfly finds a little heap of dirt and sits still on it; but man will never on his heap of mud keep still. – Joseph Conrad
I like cats…. When I meet a cat, I say, “Poor Pussy!” and stoop down and tickle the side of its head; and the cat sticks up its tail in a rigid, cast-iron manner, arches its back, and wipes its nose up against my trousers; and all is gentleness and peace. – Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), 1889