Why I love Joseph Conrad
by chuckofish
“It is when we try to grapple with another man’s intimate need that we perceive how incomprehensible, wavering and misty are the beings that share with us the sight of the stars and the warmth of the sun. It is as if loneliness were a hard and absolute condition of existence; the envelope of flesh and blood on which our eyes are fixed melts before the outstretched hand, and there remains only the capricious, unconsolable and elusive spirit that no eye can follow, no hand can grasp.” Lord Jim
And he had such nice eyes, too.
dual personalities 
A wonderful quote. I had a quote from “Lord Jim” on my senior page: “And that’s the end. He passes away under a cloud, inscrutable at heart, forgotten, unforgiven, and excessively romantic.”
Conrad is so amazing because his writing is almost unequalled in English Literature and English was his 3rd or 4th language! Maybe Conrad is right that loneliness is a hard and absolute condition of existence (especially for geniuses such as he), but I’m frequently reminded that, as CS Lewis put it, “we read to know we are not alone.”
Good point!