Moses Kaldor had always loved mountains; they made him feel nearer to the God whose nonexistence he still sometimes resented. - Arthur C. Clarke

All bureaucracies are the same. They drain the life out of the truly creative people and develop mindless paper-pushers as their critical mass.

“You’re not too heavily laden, Professor. What are those documents?”
“Star charts,” he said firmly. “The true treasure of our civilization. A few books too—oh, what a horror it was that we were not able to empty the libraries! For once a book is lost to the ice, a little more of our past is gone forever. But as to my personal effects, my pots and pans, I have my own troop of slave bearers to help me with all that. They are called graduate students.”

One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. So now people assume that religion and morality have a necessary connection. But the basis of morality is really very simple and doesn't require religion at all.