He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.

...it is human nature, I suppose, to be futile and ridiculous.

Do you expect sincerity in man when hypocrisy is the very keynote of human nature? We are nurtured on it; we are schooled in it, we live by it; and we rarely realize it.’ – Book 3, Chapter 16

Thirstily he set it to his lips, and as its cool refreshment began to soothe his throat, he thanked Heaven that in a world of much evil there was still so good a thing as ale.

But they were fated to misunderstand each other.

There remained the sea, which is free to all, and particularly alluring to those who feel themselves at war with humanity.

He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.