Related:

• Not to laugh, not to lament, not to curse, but to understand. -- Spinoza
• The endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue. -- Baruch Spinoza
• Men bound in fellowship first weep and lament, But afterward the laugh.
  After great struggles they succeed in meeting....
• Minds are conquered not by arms but by greatness of soul. -- Spinoza
• Stay the curse.
• But if we laugh with derision, we will never understand.
  Human intellectual capacity has not altered for thousands of years so far as we can tell....
• I would rather light a candle than curse the darkness.
  There was a time when I was very comfortable being part of the darkness because I didn't understand the light....
• Nothing can be said so correctly that it cannot be twisted. -- Spinoza