"In the beginning of one's task, one is enthusiastic about helping mankind."

"In the beginning of one's task, one is enthusiastic about helping mankind. At the end of the same task, one is worn out and has lost most or all of the enthusiasm. Humanity, for whose benefit one believed to fight, has put too many dangerous obstacles in one's path. One had to risk breaking one's neck in overcoming these obstacles. Disillusionment has overcome the searcher and helper. Humanity itself, through its pestilent sergeants, has obstructed its own benefits. Therefore, the inventor or searcher acquires that definite expression of suffering and sorrow in his face (Beethoven, Galileo, Freud) which indicates that the enthusiasm to help has been replaced by ardent adherence to truth beyond any immediate practical interests. "

― Wilhelm Reich, Where's the Truth?: Letters and Journals, 1948-1957