I fretted and fumed and took to arguing with myself whether or no I would talk openly with Kurtz; but before I could come to any conclusion it occurred to me that my speech or my silence, indeed any action of mine, would be a mere futility. What did it matter what anyone knew or ignored?

These lines are taken from "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. The lines are uttered by Marlow who is a self-analyzing person and was the sailor in this scenario. He was going to meet kurtz who is an idealist and was sailing up to the Congo river.

Explanation:

A Belgian company was organizing trade in Congo and the workers suffered terribly due to overwork and ill-treatment from the management. The company manager was fearful of Kurtz because he does not like the dark realities of forced labor and he wanted justice for the people of Congo. Here, marlow is distressed and sorrowful while uttering these lines. He feels that Kurtz would never became a threat for the company if their ethical policies were in place and they would have been just to their workers.