If you handed [character] a glass that was 90% full, he'd tell you that the 10% empty part proved that no one really cared about water.

There were mysterious questions, but a mysterious answer was a contradiction in terms.

That which the truth nourishes should thrive.

By and large, the answer to the question "How do large institutions survive?" is "They don't!" The vast majority of large modern-day institutions - some of them extremely vital to the functioning of our complex civilization - simply fail to exist in the first place.

You cannot rationalize what is not rational to begin with - as if lying were called truthization. There is no way to obtain more truth for a proposition by bribery, flattery, or the most passionate argument - you can make more people believe the proposition, but you cannot make it more true.

If you want to maximize your expected utility, you try to save the world and the future of intergalactic civilization instead of donating your money to the society for curing rare diseases and cute puppies.

To worship a sacred mystery was just to worship your own ignorance.