Joseph Conrad,
Lord Jim — Chapter 19
(1900)
“ A seaman, even if a mere passenger, takes an interest in a ship, and looks at the sea-life around him with the critical enjoyment of a painter, for instance, looking at another man's work. In every sense of the expression he is "on deck"; but my Jim, for the most part, skulked down below as though he had been a stowaway. ”
Joseph Conrad,
Lord Jim — Chapter 19
(1900)
“ Men had done it before (though we who have lived know full well that it is not the haunted soul but the hungry body that makes an outcast) , and men who had eaten and meant to eat every day had applauded the creditable folly. He was indeed unfortunate, for all his recklessness could not carry him out from under the shadow. There was always a doubt of his courage. The truth seems to be that it is impossible to lay the ghost of a fact. You can face it or shirk it--and I have come across a man or two who could wink at their familiar shades. Obviously Jim was not of the winking sort ”
Joseph Conrad,
Lord Jim — Chapter 19
(1900)
“ They were all equally tinged by a high-minded absurdity of intention which made their futility profound and touching. To fling away your daily bread so as to get your hands free for a grapple with a ghost may be an act of prosaic heroism. ”
