What saves us is efficiency-the devotion to efficiency. But these chaps were not much account, really. They were no colonists; their administration was merely a squeeze, and nothing more, I suspect. They were conquerors, and for that you want brute force-nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others. They grabbed what they could take and for the sake of what was to be got. It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind-as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness. The conquest of earth, which mostly means taking it away from those who have different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.
Joseph Conrad, “Heart of Darkness”, 1899
