A lesson from the past

There is a certain amount of kindness, just as there is a certain amount of light. We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won't do harm — yes, choose a place where you won't do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine.

So wrote E. M. Forster in A Room With a View. Perhaps it is a philosophy we should keep in mind 100 years later.