Joseph Conrad
18 books by Joseph Conrad to read free, each with its best passages and lines, and the best quotes from all of them below.
Where to start
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Heart of Darkness
A steamer captain in the heart of Africa witnesses the final days of a brutal ivory trader.
38,670 words, about 3 hours
Then
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Chance
The daughter of a banker jailed for fraud spontanously decides to marry a sea captain after a brief encounter.
139,492 words, about 10 hours
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The Rover
A rover retires to the French coast after a life of piracy, but soon finds himself caught up in historical events.
88,244 words, about 6 hours
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Lord Jim
Haunted by the part he played in a shipping disaster, young British seaman Jim escapes to an island in the South Seas to build his future.
129,893 words, about 9 hours
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Nostromo
The fictitious South American republic of Costaguana is in the midst of a civil war and the citizens of the coastal town of Sulaco turn to Nostromo for help.
170,823 words, about 12 hours
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The Rescue
The captain of a cargo ship is forced to rescue the passengers and crew of a yacht stranded on a Malaysian island.
134,085 words, about 9 hours
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The Shadow Line
A young naval captain assumes his first command, and his initial run is destined to become a rite of passage.
41,508 words, about 3 hours
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Under Western Eyes
A university student in St. Petersburg is drawn into the activities of a revolutionary group against his will.
113,904 words, about 8 hours
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An Outcast of the Islands
Disgraced in a scandal, a Dutch clerk flees to a river settlement on Borneo, where he is tempted by a native beauty.
105,891 words, about 7 hours
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The Mirror of the Sea
An autobiographical memoir on Joseph Conrad’s maritime experiences and his relationship with the sea.
61,952 words, about 4 hours
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The Secret Agent
A spy in London is ordered to stage a bombing to foment political and social chaos.
93,446 words, about 7 hours
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A Personal Record
Conrad recounts his childhood in Poland, his sailing experiences, and the work on his debut novel.
48,447 words, about 3 hours
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Almayer’s Folly
A Dutch trader, stuck in a dull life on Borneo, dreams of wealth and success for himself and his daughter.
63,698 words, about 4 hours
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Suspense
A young Englishman stumbles upon love and political intrigue in Napoleonic-era Genoa.
82,000 words, about 6 hours
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The Arrow of Gold
A young man becomes involved in arms smuggling and falls in love with his benefactor.
108,919 words, about 8 hours
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The End of the Tether
An aging captain, having made a name for himself in the age of sail, is forced by circumstance to do a final run on a steamer.
53,032 words, about 4 hours
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The Nigger of the Narcissus
An Afro-Caribbean sailor enlists on a trading ship bound for London, but his health soon deteriorates.
54,807 words, about 4 hours
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Victory
A reclusive man rescues a mistreated young woman, but their romantic life on a remote island is soon disturbed.
118,023 words, about 8 hours
Joseph Conrad quotes
The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway.
It is a mighty force that of mere chance; absolutely irresistible yet manifesting itself often in delicate forms such for instance as the charm, true or illusory, of a human being.
There was not a quiver on the large cheeks of the gunner Peyrol.
One sunny morning, in the commonplace surroundings of an Eastern roadstead, I saw his form pass by—appealing—significant—under a cloud—perfectly silent.
Sulaco had found an inviolable sanctuary from the temptations of a trading world in the solemn hush of the deep Golfo Placido as if within an enormous semicircular and unroofed temple open to the ocean, with its walls of lofty mountains hung with the mourning draperies of cloud.
Out of the level blue of a shallow sea Carimata raises a lofty barrenness of grey and yellow tints, the drab eminence of its arid heights.
For surely it is a great thing to have commanded a handful of men worthy of one’s undying regard.
Words, as is well known, are the great foes of reality.
It is a fine thing to be a providence, and to be told so on every day of one’s life.
It is a great doctor for sore hearts and sore heads, too, your ship’s routine, which I have seen soothe—at least for a time—the most turbulent of spirits.
His eyes were naturally heavy; he had an air of having wallowed, fully dressed, all day on an unmade bed.
I have always felt myself looked upon somewhat in the light of a phenomenon, a position which outside the circus world cannot be regarded as desirable.
A woman’s judgment: intuitive, clever, expressed with felicitous charm—infallible. A judgment that has nothing to do with justice.
There are plenty of fearless people in the world, but luck is even better than courage.
Certain streets have an atmosphere of their own, a sort of universal fame and the particular affection of their citizens.
Fifty years at sea, and forty out in the East (“a pretty thorough apprenticeship,” he used to remark smilingly), had made him honorably known to a generation of shipowners and merchants in all the ports from Bombay clear over to where the East merges into the West upon the coast of the two Americas.
Art is long and life is short, and success is very far off.
Thinking is the great enemy of perfection.
“And this also,” said Marlow suddenly, “has been one of the dark places of the earth.”
Forty tons of dynamite have been your best friend today, young man.