A rare kind of person loves knowledge or the public good as if it were their own, cheering others' discoveries and civic institutions that bring them no gain. Because they never think of themselves, they cannot use others for profit. Ordinary people cannot make sense of them, so they suspect hidden motives, pretence or madness, and push them out.
Treat love as plus, hate as minus and indifference as zero, and feelings combine by the rules of arithmetic. Hating hate turns back into love, because two minuses make a plus, while hating the hate of hate turns negative again. Any mix of love and hate, whether hating love or loving hate, always comes out opposed to love.
People who see something every day assume they understand it, so familiarity gives them false certainty. Someone who studies nature closely moves among puzzles and only ever half-understands them. That habit of accepting what one cannot fully grasp leads toward belief, not away from it.
Memory alone only piles up material, and thinking is what puts that pile in order. In a well-ordered memory, each idea arrives together with all the conclusions that follow from it. Recalling one thing then brings its consequences along with it.
In most people the self is almost never idle. Their advice, favours, contacts and friendships nearly all carry a trace of their own interest. They care deeply about anything that touches their interests, however remotely, and are indifferent to everything else.