Of Sadness
On whether extreme grief silences or overwhelms us, and on the paradox that tears can only begin once the sharpest pain has passed.
Emotion
That the Soul Discharges Her Passions upon False Objects
When we cannot reach the true object of our anger or grief, the soul fastens upon whatever is nearest — not from wisdom, but from the need to discharge what it carries.
That we laugh and cry for the same things
Laughter and weeping are neighbors in the soul; the same event can provoke either depending on the angle from which we approach it, and this proximity tells us something true about the inconsistency of human feeling.
That the Soul expends its Passions upon False Objects, where the True are wanting
When the soul's true objects are absent, it turns its energy upon substitutes — grief displaces itself, and we weep for what does not deserve our tears.