McCrimmon, having gotten Grierson's attention, continued: "A
breakthrough, you say? If it's in economics, at least it can't be
dangerous. Nothing like gene engineering, laser beams, sex hormones or
international relations. That's where we don't want any breakthroughs. "
(Galbraith, 1. K. (1990) A Tenured Profes- sor, Houghton Mifflin;
Boston. ) To judge [astronomy] in this way [a narrow utilitarian
point of view] demon- strates not only how poor we are, but also how
small, narrow, and indolent our minds are; it shows a disposition always
to calculate the payolTbefore the work, a cold heart and a lack of
feeling for everything that is great and honors man. One can
unfortunately not deny that such a mode of thinking is not uncommon in
our age, and I am convinced that this is closely connected with the
catastro- phes which have befallen many countries in recent times; do
not mistake me, I do not talk of the general lack of concern for
science, but of the source from which all this has come, of the tendency
to everywhere look out for one's advan- tage and to relate everything to
one's physical well-being, of the indilTerence towards great ideas,
ofthe aversion to any elTort which derives from pure enthu- siasm: I
believe that such attitudes, if they prevail, can be decisive in catas-
trophes of the kind we have experienced. [Gauss, K. F.: Astronomische
An- trittsvorlesung (cited from Buhler, W. K. (1981) Gauss: A
Biographical Study, Springer: New York)].