While that is true, it also makes it sound as if acting against evil is easy. How much are you willing to sacrifice for your principles? Would you, honestly now, choose to sacrifice your own life and the lives of everyone you love to get a single fantasy novel published?

There's merit to picking your battles. For a man to risk torture and death by joining the resistance, or sheltering refugees, or crossing the border and defecting to the other side--that at least makes some sense. But to publish a novel? Not even an incendiary novel of revolution to fire the people's hearts, but a cheery, inoffensive fairy tale? What a pointless sacrifice that would be.

It's not clear if a corollary of this is that good people who do nothing cease to be good people.