Buildings were just the world's furniture, and he didn't care how it was arranged. - John Varley

It’s unpleasant to find that what you had thought of as moral scruples suddenly seem not quite so important in the face of a stack of money.

Religion and science don’t mix well, as science likes to observe and draw conclusions—to learn, in other words—and religion cares only about learning the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, etc. They don’t need to learn about this world, because they already know. A good way to describe a wasted life, as far as I’m concerned. Religious people already know things, with no more proof than some words in an old book. In short, they’re crazy.

They had a good picture of the world as it is, not the rosy misconceptions so many other utopians labor under. They did the jobs that needed doing.