»His work, which has always been ›provocative‹ in the best sense the word's English meaning, has recently reached a provisional climax through his great treatise Philosophy of Unhappiness, a brilliantly intelligent book which, without offering any false consolations, has something encouraging about it simply by virtue of its great intellectual power … I really like the entire notion of pessimism as a state of ›maturity‹. As for the rest, it is a continuously fascinating and profoundly witty book.«