Marie Curie cuts against a tempting illusion: that we can engineer our way to a better society through policy, technology, or grand institutions alone. She's reminding us that systemic change without personal transformation is hollow—a building constructed on sand. When a company installs ethics training but its leaders still prioritize profits over principles, or when a government passes laws its citizens have no character to uphold, we see exactly what she meant. The insight matters because it places moral responsibility precisely where we'd rather not find it: in ourselves.