pitiful nature of men

'I would never have learned so much about the pitiful nature of men, and how little they care about the pursuit of truly noble aims,' he said, 'if I had not put them to the test through my scientific work. I saw then that science, for most of them, is just a means of earning a living, and that they will glorify error itself if it pays their wages.

'And things are no better in the world of literature. Here, too, it is very rare to find noble aims and a genuine feeling for the true and the good, and a desire to propagate them. One person nurtures and supports another, because he in turn is nurtured and supported by him; true greatness is hateful to them, and they would dearly like to get rid of it altogether, so that they alone might be considered important. That's how the masses think - and prominent individuals are not much better.

--Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann

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