"Convictions? I have no convictions."
"Haven't you?"
"No, only fools have convictions."
"Have you no morals, Ygberg?"
"No! Whenever a fool has an idea—it comes to the same thing whether it is original or not—he calls it his conviction, clings to it and boasts of it, not because it is a conviction, but because it is his conviction. So far as the Marine Insurance Society is concerned, I believe it's a swindle! I'm sure it injures many men, the shareholders at all events, but it's a splendid thing for others, the directors and employés, for instance; so it does a fair amount of good, after all."
"Have you lost all sense of honour, old friend?"
"One must sacrifice everything on the altar of duty."
"I admit that."
"The first and foremost duty of man is to live—to live at any price! Divine as well as human law demands it."
"One must never sacrifice honour."