reading Spinoza

For why is it more lawful to satiate one’s hunger and thirst than to drive away one’s melancholy?

While I don’t necessarily agree with much of his philosophy, I like the way he thought, and I enjoy the subtle (perhaps unintentional) humor scattered among his lines of “reasoning:”

As man seldom lives under the guidance of reason, these two emotions, namely humility and repentance, as also hope and fear, bring more good than harm; hence, as we must sin, we had better sin in that direction.