What he disliked in his van was its having a door and windows, and thus resembling a house.

He would have realized his ideal, had he been able to put a cave on four wheels and travel in a den.
He did not smile, as we have already said, but he used to laugh; sometimes, indeed frequently, a bitter laugh.

There is consent in a smile, while a laugh is often a refusal.
His great business was to hate the human race.

He was implacable in that hate.

Having made it clear that human life is a dreadful thing; having observed the superposition of evils, kings on the people, war on kings, the plague on war, famine on the plague, folly on everything; having proved a certain measure of chastisement in the mere fact of existence; having recognized that, death is a deliverance--when they brought him a sick man he cured him; he had cordials and beverages to prolong the lives of the old.