Quotation from: Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard

Written by: Joseph Conrad

"Oh, yes!" he said. "Of course you know. You know everything. You read
all the correspondence, you write all the papers--all those State papers
that are inspired here, in this room, in blind deference to a theory
of political purity. Hadn't you Charles Gould before your eyes? Rey de
Sulaco! He and his mine are the practical demonstration of what could
have been done. Do you think he succeeded by his fidelity to a theory of
virtue? And all those railway people, with their honest work! Of course,
their work is honest! But what if you cannot work honestly till the
thieves are satisfied? Could he not, a gentleman, have told this Sir
John what's-his-name that Montero had to be bought off--he and all his
Negro Liberals hanging on to his gold-laced sleeve? He ought to have
been bought off with his own stupid weight of gold--his weight of gold,
I tell you, boots, sabre, spurs, cocked hat, and all."