Philip had cultivated a certain disdain for idealism. He had always had a passion for life, and the idealism he had come across seemed for the most part a cowardly shrinking away from it. The idealist withdrew himself, because he could not suffer the jostling of the human crowd; he had not the strength to fight and so called the battle vulgar; he was vain, and since his fellows would not take him at his own estimate, consoled himself with despising his fellows.