Pride is generally censured and decried, but mainly by those who have nothing to be proud of.

Style is what gives value and currency to thoughts.

Will minus intellect constitutes vulgarity.

A sense of humour is the only divine quality of man

All our wanting comes from needs, thus we continiously suffer. The intellect teaches free will, free from suffering.

The weakness of their reasoning faculty also explains why women show more sympathy for the unfortunate than men;... and why, on the contrary, they are inferior to men as regards justice, and less honourable and conscientious.

And yet, just as our body would burst asunder if the pressure of the atmosphere were removed from it, so would the arrogance of men expand, if not to the point of bursting then to that of the most unbridled folly, indeed madness, if the pressure of want, toil, calamity and frustration were removed from their life. One can even say that we require at all times a certain quantity of care or sorrow or want, as a ship requires ballast, in order to keep on a straight course.