“ The world is mediocre, limp, without force. And madness and despair are a force. ”
Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent (1907). copy citation
| Author | Joseph Conrad |
|---|---|
| Source | The Secret Agent |
| Topic | madness despair |
| Date | 1907 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/974/974-h/974-h.htm |
Context
“said Ossipon hurriedly. “Here, what do you know of madness and despair?”
The Professor passed the tip of his tongue on his dry, thin lips, and said doctorally:
“There are no such things. All passion is lost now. The world is mediocre, limp, without force. And madness and despair are a force. And force is a crime in the eyes of the fools, the weak and the silly who rule the roost. You are mediocre. Verloc, whose affair the police has managed to smother so nicely, was mediocre. And the police murdered him.”
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