The Hormone Factory

If you want to be a winner in the struggle for success, you must always know for certain what others dare only guess

Crying over spilled milk doesn’t get you anywhere. What’s done is done, there’s nothing you can do about death’s unpredictable ways.

Day by day I seem to be sinking more deeply into the gloom that has characterized so much of my time on earth. I know them well, the days when it feels as if you’re stuck ankle-deep in filthy, glutinous sludge and even the slightest movement demands just too much effort. The hours you lie in bed motionless because you’re locked in a cocoon of wretchedness. It’s from that supine position that you survey the world. The sun that rises and shines, as if its light could possibly make any difference.

And to stick your neck out; if you don’t take any risks you’re never going to get off the ground

To get somewhere you have to dare to break new ground, you have to dare to dream

Crying over spilled milk doesn’t get you anywhere. What’s done is done, there’s nothing you can do about death’s unpredictable ways

family was always struggling to make ends meet

The once so inspiring collaboration between the businessman Van Zwanenberg and the scientist Laqueur had apparently degenerated over the years into a bitter fight. By the end, the two men wouldn’t give each other the time of the day. Too many cooks spoil the broth, and after the war Van Zwanenberg cut Laqueur out of the company. That raises the question: How does a man justify to himself betraying the person to whom he owes his success when it becomes convenient? Another question is: Why are successful men often so incredibly careless when it comes to sex? Why are they prepared to risk their entire careers for a brief sexual encounter? Powerful men often grant themselves extraordinary privileges and do not consider non-consensual sex as abuse or rape. They delude themselves into thinking that an ordinary girl should consider it an honour when a powerful man wants to sleep with her, whether willing or not

Just look at her flaunting her primly clothed chassis, as if that nylon schmatta she’s wearing conceals a bastion of puritan prudery, instead of a sexy bod with pointy, provocative tits no man can avoid staring at, with curves just begging to be stroked, pinched, or sucked, and a pussy hiding under that skirt demanding to be plugged. Those dark eyes with their come-hither look belie the sob story she’s reciting; no doubt she was thoroughly coached by those shyster lawyers. The inviting eyes, the nervous pout, the chewed lip, the tip of the tongue emerging every once in a while to lick the modestly painted mouth, the awkward and rather jerky gestures of the fingers

Organon was a vigorous participant in the rush to be the first to extract hormones. This was the time of the so-called hormone bubble; in labs all over the world scientists worked hard to isolate hormones and discover which bodily functions they influenced. Experimentation with medical compounds was not yet bound by government regulation, and the ethics of animal and human testing were left to the scientist and his own conscience. The tension between the interests of science and commerce was a crucial part of the equation.