Their thoughts seemed to him fruitful when he read, or was himself devising refutations of other teachings, the materialistic in particular; but as soon as he began reading, or himself devised, solutions to life's problems, the same thing occurred every time.
I pensieri gli sembravano fecondi quando leggeva o quando si figurava le confutazioni di altre dottrine, in particolare materialistiche; ma non appena leggeva o immaginava da sé la soluzione delle questioni, allora si ripeteva sempre la stessa cosa.