Quotation from: Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard

Written by: Joseph Conrad

"What! To silence him for ever? I thought it good to hear first how he
came to be here. It was too strange. Who could imagine that it was
all an accident? Afterwards, senor, when I saw you giving him water to
drink, I could not do it. Not after I had seen you holding up the can to
his lips as though he were your brother. Senor, that sort of necessity
must not be thought of too long. And yet it would have been no cruelty
to take away from him his wretched life. It is nothing but fear. Your
compassion saved him then, Don Martin, and now it is too late. It
couldn't be done without noise."