Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief in the safety of their surroundings. The courage, the composure, the confidence; the emotions and principles; every great and insignificant thought belongs not to the individual but to the crowd that believes blindly in the irresistible force of its institutions and of its morals, in the power of its police and of its opinion. But the contact with unmitigated savagery, with primitive nature and primitive man, brings sudden and profound trouble into the heart.
Joseph Conrad, “An Outpost of Progress”, 1896
Photo: R. Kennedy Stephen
