Quotation from: Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard

Written by: Joseph Conrad

The mere presence of a coward, however passive, brings an element of
treachery into a dangerous situation. Nostromo's nervous impatience
passed into gloomy thoughtfulness. Decoud, in an undertone, as if
speaking to himself, remarked that, after all, this bizarre event made
no great difference. He could not conceive what harm the man could
do. At most he would be in the way, like an inanimate and useless
object--like a block of wood, for instance.