"We're still the Black Company. We still don't leave our own behind." Which was never strictly true but you do have to serve an ideal the best you can, lest it become debased. A law as ancient as coinage itself says bad money will drive out good. The same is true of principles, ethics and rules of conduct. If you always do the easier thing, then you cannot possibly remain steadfast when it becomes necessary to take a difficult stand.
You must do what you know to be right. And you do know. Ninetynine times out of a hundred you do know and you are just making excuses because the right thing is so hard, or just so inconvenient.
Glen Cook: Water Sleeps (The Many Deaths of the Black Company)