“ Some great men owe most of their greatness to the ability of detecting in those they destine for their tools the exact quality of strength that matters for their work; and Brown, as though he had been really great, had a satanic gift of finding out the best and the weakest spot in his victims. ”
Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim (1900). copy citation
| Author | Joseph Conrad |
|---|---|
| Source | Lord Jim |
| Topic | strength weakness detecting |
| Date | 1900 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5658/5658-h/5658-h.htm |
Context
“This was all that came to him—a menace, a shock, a danger to his work. I suppose it is this sad, half-resentful, half-resigned feeling, piercing through the few words Jim said now and then, that puzzled Brown so much in the reading of his character. Some great men owe most of their greatness to the ability of detecting in those they destine for their tools the exact quality of strength that matters for their work; and Brown, as though he had been really great, had a satanic gift of finding out the best and the weakest spot in his victims. He admitted to me that Jim wasn't of the sort that can be got over by truckling, and accordingly he took care to show himself as a man confronting without dismay ill-luck, censure, and disaster. The smuggling of a few guns was no great crime, he pointed out.”
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Meaning and analysis
