Above all, we must forgive the unhappy souls who have elected to make the pilgrimage on foot, who skirt the shore and look uncomprehendingly upon the horror of the struggle, the joy of victory, the profound hopelessness of the vanquished.

letter written in March 1890, published in Frederick R Karl and Laurence Davies, eds., The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, vol. 1, p. 43. ISBN 0521242169