“Perhaps he was highly intelligent and gifted–a remarkably honest man. Had he not been hemmed in on all sides by sea and mountains, he might have made an excellent rural welfare worker, a statesman, an orator, a publicist, or a great man of action–who could tell? And if so, how stupid to argue whether one was doing the decent thing or not! Suppose some able, useful person–a musician or artist, say–broke down a wall and tricked his gaolers so that he could escape from prison? In such a situation any action is honourable.”

–the genteelly catty Anton Chekhov, “The Duel”