Conrad on Betrayal

Joseph Conrad, photograph from 1913

Betray: a great word. What is betrayal? They talk of a man betraying his country, his friends, his sweetheart….All a man can betray is his conscience. And how is my conscience engaged here; by what bond of common faith, of common conviction, am I obliged to let that fanatical idiot drag me down with him? On the contrary–every obligation of true courage is the other way.

–Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes p. 25 (1911)