I found this letter of Pierre Curie to Marie Sklodowska, (1894) in Eve Curie’s bio of her mother. How little have things changed, except that in those days, even scientists still had a conscience.
“…Aren’t you a little pretentious when you say you are perfectly free? We are all slaves at least of our affections, slaves of the prejudices of those we love; we must also earn our living, and thereby become a part of the machine, etc., etc.
The most painful thing is the concessions we are forced to make to the prejudices of the society that surrounds us; one makes them more or less often, according to one’s strength or weakness. If we don’t make enough we are crushed; and if we make too many we are vile and acquire disgust for ourselves….”