There was always a screen behind which one could hide— a superior who in turn had his superior— orders, instructions, duties, commands— and finally the many-headed monster, morale, necessity, hard reality, responsibility, or whatever it was called— there was always a screen behind which to evade the simple law of humanity.
Erich Maria Remarque, Arch of Triumph: A Novel of a Man Without a Country
cowardice, cruelty, excuses, humanity, indifference, morals, pretense, rules