Heart of Darkness is one of Joseph Conrad’s most famous works.
The novella has been praised for its brilliant prose and exploration of the human condition.
If you’re looking for some amazing quotes from Heart of Darkness, look no further! We’ve compiled a list of 50 quotes with page numbers from Conrad’s classic work.
Heart of Darkness Quotes With Page Numbers Part 1
“And this also,” said Marlow suddenly, “has been one of the dark places of the earth.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 4
“Like a running blaze on a plain, like a flash of lightning in the clouds. We live in the flicker.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Pages 4, 5
“We live in the flicker — may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Pages 4, 5
“All that mysterious life of the wilderness that stirs in the forest, in the jungles, in the hearts of wild men.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 1, Page 5
“They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force–nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 1, Page 6
“Your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 6
“I always went my own road and on my own legs where I had a mind to go”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 1, Page 8
“The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it, not a sentimental pretence but an idea: and an unselfish belief in the idea–something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to…”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 1, Page 8
“Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma. There it is before you, smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering, “Come and find out.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 1, Page 14
“For a time I would feel I belonged still to a world of straightforward facts; but the feeling would not last long. Something would turn up to scare it away.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 1, Page 15
“I let him run on, this papier-maché Mephistopheles, and it seemed to me that if I tried I could poke my forefinger through him, and would find nothing inside but a little loose dirt, maybe.”
~Jospeh Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 1, Page 32
“You know I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appals me. There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies – which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world – what I want to forget.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 33
“There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies – which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world – what I want to forget.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 33
“It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream–making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is of the very essence of dreams…No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence–that which makes its truth, its meaning–its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream-alone…”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 33
“Do you see the story? Do you see anything? It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream–making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is the very essence of dreams…”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 33
“No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence–that which makes its truth, its meaning–its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream–alone.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 34
“We live, as we dream–alone….”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 34
“We live as we dream – alone. While the dream disappears, the life continues painfully.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 34
“No, I don’t like work. I had rather laze about and think of all the fine things that can be done. I don’t like work – no man does – but I like what is in the work, – the chance to find yourself. Your own reality – for yourself, not for others – what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, The narrator, Part 1, Page 36
Quotes From Heart of Darkness With Page Numbers Part 2
“Going up that river was like travelling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish. There was no joy in the brilliance of sunshine. The long stretches of the waterway ran on, deserted, into the gloom of overshadowed distances. On silvery sandbanks hippos and alligators sunned themselves side by side. The broadening waters flowed through a mob of wooded islands; you lost your way on that river as you would in a desert, and butted all day long against shoals, trying to find the channel, till you thought yourself bewitched and cut off forever from everything you had known once -somewhere- far away in another existence perhaps. There were moments when one’s past came back to one, as it will sometimes when you have not a moment to spare to yourself; but it came in the shape of an unrestful and noisy dream, remembered with wonder amongst the overwhelming realities of this strange world of plants, and water, and silence. And this stillness of life did not in the least resemble a peace. It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention. It looked at you with a vengeful aspect.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 2, Page 42
“We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 2, Page 45
“We couldn’t understand because we were too far… and could not remember because we were traveling in the night of first ages, those ages that had gone, leaving hardly a sign… and no memories.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, The narrator, Part 1, Page 45
“The mind of man is capable of anything.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 2, Page 46
“the mind of man is capable of anything–because everything is in it, all the past as well as the future”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 2, Page 46
“The mind of man is capable of anything–because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future. What was there after all? Joy, fear, sorrow, devotion, valor, rage–who can tell?–but truth–truth stripped of its cloak of time.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 2, Page 46
“I have a voice, too, and for good or evil mine is the speech that cannot be silenced”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 2, Page 46
“One can’t live with one’s finger everlastingly on one’s pulse.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 2, Page 53
“Even extreme grief may ultimately vent itself in violence–but more generally takes the form of apathy”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 2, Page 55
“I couldn’t have felt more of lonely desolation somehow, had I been robbed of a belief or had missed my destiny in life…”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 2, Page 61
“These little things make all the great difference. When they are gone you must fall back upon your own innate strength, upon your own capacity for faithfulness. Of course you may be too much of a fool to go wrong–too dull even to know you are being assaulted by the powers of darkness. I take it no fool ever made a bargain for his soul with the devil. The fool is too much of a fool or the devil too much of a devil–I don’t know which. Or you may be such a thunderingly exalted creature as to be altogether deaf and blind to anything but heavenly sights and sounds. Then the earth for you is only a standing place–and whether to be like this is your loss or your gain I won’t pretend to say. But most of us are neither one or the other.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 2, Page 63
“Everything belonged to him–but that was a trifle. The thing to know was what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 2, Page 63
Heart of Darkness Part 3 Quotes
“His face was like the autumn sky, overcast one moment and bright the next.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 3, Page 69
“His very existence was improbable, inexplicable, and altogether bewildering. He was an insoluble problem. It was inconceivable how he had existed, how he had succeeded in getting so far, how he had managed to remain — why he did not instantly disappear.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 3, Page 73
“He hated all this, and somehow he couldn’t get away.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 3, Page 75
“I think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no conception till he took counsel with this great solitude – and the whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating. It echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 3, Pages 77, 78
“I think the knowledge came to him at last — only at the very last. But the wilderness had found him out early, and had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion. I think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no conception till he took counsel with this great solitude — and the whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating.
Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never seen before, and hope never to see again. Oh, I wasn’t touched. I was fascinated. It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of somber pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror — of an intense and hopeless despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision, — he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath — ‘The horror! The horror!”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 3, Pages 77, 78
“It echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 3, Page 78
“I saw him open his mouth wide. . . as though he had wanted to swallow all the air, all the earth, all the men before him.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 3, Page 80
“It was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, the narrator, Part 3, Page 86
“He struggled with himself, too. I saw it — I heard it. I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, The narrator, Part 3, Page 89
“But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself and, by heavens I tell you, it had gone mad.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, the narrator, Part 3, Page 89
“They had behind them, to my mind, the terrific suggestiveness of words heard in dreams, of phrases spoken in nightmares.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 3, Page 89
“Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never seen before, and hope never to see again. Oh, I wasn’t touched. I was fascinated. It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror–of an intense and hopeless despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision–he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath:
The horror! The horror!”~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 3, Page 93
“The horror! The horror!”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 3, Pages 93, 99, and 104
“I have wrestled with death. It is the most unexciting contest you can imagine. It takes place in an impalpable greyness, with nothing underfoot, with nothing around, without spectators, without clamour, without glory, without the great desire of victory, without the great fear of defeat, in a sickly atmostphere of tepid scepticism, without much belief in your own right, and still less in that of your adversary.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 3, Page 94
“Droll thing life is — that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself — that comes too late — a crop of inextinguishable regrets.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 3, Page 94
“And perhaps in this is the whole difference; perhaps all the wisdom, and all truth, and all sincerity, are just compressed into that inappreciable moment of time in which we step over the threshold of the invisible.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 3, Page 95
“They trespassed upon my thoughts. They were intruders whose knowledge of life was to me an irritating pretense, because I felt so sure they could not possibly know the things I knew. Their bearing, which was simply the bearing of commonplace individuals going about their business in the assurance of perfect safety, was offensive to me like the outrageous flauntings of folly in the face of a danger it is unable to comprehend. I had no particular desire to enlighten them, but I had some difficulty in restraining myself from laughing in their faces, so full of stupid importance.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 3, Page 95
“I found myself back in the sepulchral city resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets to filch a little money from each other, to devour their infamous cookery, to gulp their unwholesome beer, to dream their insignificant and silly dreams. They trespassed upon my thoughts.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 3, Page 95
“The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil water-way leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky–seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, The narrator, Part 3, Page 104
Heart of Darkness Quotes Explained
1. “We live, as we dream–alone….”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 34
Meaning: This quote from Heart of Darkness encapsulates that despite our attempts to connect with others, we ultimately experience life’s hardships and joys on our own.
Despite our best efforts, we can never truly share our innermost thoughts, feelings, and experiences with others, meaning that we must ultimately live our lives alone.
2. “It was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, the narrator, Part 3, Page 86
Meaning: This quote from Heart of Darkness suggests that one must accept the consequences of their own decisions, even if they may be difficult to face.
3. “I don’t like work–no man does–but I like what is in the work–the chance to find yourself.
Your own reality–for yourself not for others–what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, The Narrator, Part 1, Page 36
Meaning: This quote from Heart of Darkness suggests that working is often not enjoyable, but it allows people to discover who they are and their own reality, which no one else can understand or know.
4. “Your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 6
Meaning: This quote from Heart of Darkness highlights the idea that those more privileged often benefit from the oppression of others, demonstrating the unfairness and injustice of systemic discrimination.
5. “No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence–that which makes its truth, its meaning–its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream–alone.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 34
Meaning: This quote suggests that life cannot be fully understood or explained and that we all experience life alone, unable to share our own truth and experiences with others.
6. “Droll thing life is — that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself — that comes too late — a crop of inextinguishable regrets.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 3, Page 94
Meaning: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness quote highlights life’s harsh and often unforgiving nature. It suggests that despite our efforts to understand it, life remains an enigma, and the most we can hope for is a self-realization that often comes too late for us to make amends for our mistakes and regret our decisions.
7. “We live as we dream – alone. While the dream disappears, the life continues painfully.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Part 1, Page 34
Meaning: This quote from Heart of Darkness emphasizes the idea of loneliness and the futility of dreaming, as, despite our aspirations and dreams, our lives must go on without them in a painful and solitary manner.
8. “The mind of man is capable of anything.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 2, Page 46
Meaning: This quote from Heart of Darkness implies that the human mind has a limitless capacity for creativity, exploration, and transformation, as it contains all of the memories and experiences of the past and the potential for a better future.
9. “He struggled with himself, too. I saw it — I heard it. I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, The Narrator, Part 3, Page 89
Meaning: This quote from Heart of Darkness highlights the internal conflict of a person who has lost all sense of morality and restraint yet still struggles to make sense of the world around them.
This can be seen as a metaphor for the struggle of mankind to make sense of an increasingly chaotic world.
10. “But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself and, by heavens I tell you, it had gone mad.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, the narrator, Part 3, Page 89
Meaning: This quote from Heart of Darkness speaks to the power of solitude and the overwhelming emotions it can evoke.
It suggests that when one turns inward, away from the comforts of society, one can become overwhelmed and even consumed by one’s innermost thoughts, leading to a sense of madness.
Irony In Heart of Darkness Quotes
“I got my appointment—of course; and I got it very quick. It appears the Company had received news that one of their captains had been killed in a scuffle with the natives. This was my chance, and it made me the more anxious to go.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, The narrator, Part 1, Pages 8, 9
‘In the interior you will no doubt meet Mr. Kurtz.’ On my asking who Mr. Kurtz was, he said he was a first-class agent; and seeing my disappointment at this information, he added slowly, laying down his pen, ‘He is a very remarkable person.’ Further questions elicited from him that Mr. Kurtz was at present in charge of a trading-post, a very important one, in the true ivory-country, at ‘the very bottom of there. Sends in as much ivory as all the others put together…’ He began to write again. The sick man was too ill to groan. The flies buzzed in a great peace.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, The narrator, Part 1, Page 22
“The faces twitched with the strain, the hands trembled slightly, the eyes forgot to wink. It was very curious to see the contrast of expressions of the white men and of the black fellows of our crew, who were as much strangers to that part of the river as we, though their homes were only eight hundred miles away. The whites, of course greatly discomposed, had besides a curious look of being painfully shocked by such an outrageous row. The others had an alert, naturally interested expression; but their faces were essentially quiet, even those of the one or two who grinned as they hauled at the chain. ” … ” I looked at them as you would on any human being, with a curiosity of their impulses, motives, capacities, weaknesses, when brought to the test of an inexorable physical necessity. Restraint! What possible restraint? Was it superstition, disgust, patience, fear—or some kind of primitive honour? No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist where hunger is”…Don’t you know the devilry of lingering starvation, its exasperating torment, its black thoughts, its sombre and brooding ferocity? Well, I do. It takes a man all his inborn strength to fight hunger properly. It’s really easier to face bereavement, dishonour, and the perdition of one’s soul—than this kind of prolonged hunger. ”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, The narrator, Part 2, Pages 51, 52
‘must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the nature of supernatural beings— we approach them with the might of a deity,’ and so on, and so on. ‘By the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded,’ etc., etc. From that point he soared and took me with him. The peroration was magnificent, though difficult to remember, you know. It gave me the notion of an exotic Immensity ruled by an august Benevolence….”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, The narrator, Part 2, Page 55
What is the main message of Heart of Darkness?
The main message of Heart of Darkness is that imperialism is hypocritical and that racism is wrong, as demonstrated by the parallels between London and Africa and the similarities between “civilized people” and “savages.”
What are the last lines of Heart of Darkness?
“We have lost the first of the ebb,” said the Director suddenly. I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky—seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.”
~Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part 3, Page 104
The Best Book Quotes With Page Numbers
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