I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by any means possible, except getting off his back.

This character still abounds. From Writings on Civil Disobedience and Nonviolence by Leo Tolstoy.

I sit on a man's back, choking him, and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by any means possible, except getting off his back.