Put a man in the wrong atmosphere and nothing will function as it should. He will seem unhealthy in every part. Put him back into his proper element and everything will blossom and look healthy. But if he is not in his right element, what then? Well, then he just has to make the best of appearing before the world as a cripple.

Some organisations and societies alienate those who appear to be cripples. They are useless in the current atmosphere, after all. Others attempt to create pockets where these cripples can flourish. One man’s oxygen is another man’s nitrogen dioxide. Creating an environment with pockets of atmospheres that are toxic to some but health-giving to others is technically difficult. And creates a risk of dangerous accidents. But if you homogenize your atmosphere, you become less adaptable to external stimuli and more at risk of dying out altogether. You may try to accommodate cripples anew, but after chasing them away for decades, winning their goodwill again is not a trivial matter.

*As this was taken from an old notebook, I cannot recall the specfic details of the edition, except that it was in paperback and translated by G. H. von Wright.