LONELINESS QUOTES III

quotations about loneliness

loneliness quote

We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and -- in spite of True Romance magazines -- we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way.

HUNTER S. THOMPSON

The Proud Highway

Tags: Hunter S. Thompson


We live as we dream--alone.

JOSEPH CONRAD

Heart of Darkness


Each way means loneliness -- and communion.

T. S. ELIOT

The Cocktail Party

Tags: T. S. Eliot


Loneliness is one of the bugbears of mankind. With some people, it is a constant source of unhappiness. They make plans, sometimes exceedingly complex, to keep it at bay. They think that it lies outside. It really lies within their own consciousness.

JOHN DANIEL BARRY

"Loneliness", Reactions and Other Essays


Lonely people, in talking to each other can make each other lonelier.

LILLIAN HELLMAN

The Autumn Garden

Tags: Lillian Hellman


There is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream, a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought--a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!

MARK TWAIN

"The Mysterious Stranger", The Complete Short Stories

Tags: Mark Twain


If one's different, one's bound to be lonely.

ALDOUS HUXLEY

Brave New World

Tags: Aldous Huxley


Why do people have to be this lonely? What's the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?

HARUKI MURAKAMI

Sputnik Sweetheart

Tags: Haruki Murakami


Is it really possible to avoid loneliness, or to keep it in control? Surely. The matter is wholly personal. The way to begin is, oddly enough, by learning how to be impersonal, to stop the eternal concern for oneself, in caring more and more for the things of interest outside. For loneliness, though it may seem unselfish, is really a kind of selfishness. It is emphasis of self even while being a depreciation of self. If the lonely people would only stop thinking about themselves they would cease to be lonely.

JOHN DANIEL BARRY

"Loneliness", Reactions and Other Essays Discussing Those States of Feeling and Attitude of Mind That Find Expression In Our Individual Qualities


A lonely man is a lonesome thing, a stone, a bone, a stick, a receptacle for Gilbey's gin, a stooped figure sitting at the edge of a hotel bed, heaving copious sighs like the autumn wind.

JOHN CHEEVER

"The Sixties", John Cheever: The Journals


I don't think that loneliness is necessarily a bad or unconstructive condition. My own skill at jamming time may actually be dependent on some fluid mixture of emotions, among them curiosity, sexual desire, and love, all suspended in a solvent medium of loneliness.

NICHOLSON BAKER

The Fermata

Tags: Nicholson Baker


It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is as true of men as of dogs.

ERIC HOFFER

"Thoughts of Eric Hoffer", The New York Times Magazine, Apr. 25, 1971

Tags: Eric Hoffer


Many of the loneliest people in the world have plenty of company. Their lives are full of social activity. They are always doing. Sometimes they are like hunted creatures. The hunted look one can often see in their eyes. They would be astonished, perhaps resentful, if they were told that they were themselves the hunters. Sometimes they blame the people about them. Sometimes they blame the conditions of life. Themselves they never blame. With longing, they look out on the world as if seeking for someone to give help. They even become reproachful and say there is no one with sympathy for them or understanding. And yet help is always with them, waiting for a chance, in the inner consciousness.

JOHN DANIEL BARRY

"Loneliness", Reactions and Other Essays Discussing Those States of Feeling and Attitude of Mind That Find Expression In Our Individual Qualities


My loneliness is like the tarmacs where planes never rest;
they touch and then take flight.
Let it be the launching pad for dreams,
brief respite for crafts that sweep the stars.

JAMIE ZWIEBEL

"The Lonely Season", Poems Written While Not Studying at Harvard


Physical distance between people has nothing to do with loneliness. It's psychic distance.

ROBERT M. PIRSIG

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Tags: Robert M. Pirsig


The Loneliness One dare not sound --
And would as soon surmise
AS in its Grave go plumbing
To ascertain the size --
The Loneliness whose worst alarm
Is lest itself should see --
And perish from before itself
For just a scrutiny --
The Horror not to be surveyed --
But skirted in the Dark --
With Consciousness suspended --
And Being under Lock --
I fear me this -- is Loneliness --
The Maker of the soul
Its Caverns and its Corridors
Illuminate -- or seal --

EMILY DICKINSON

"The Loneliness One Dare Not Sound", Poems

Tags: Emily Dickinson


He felt the cold silence between worlds, the thrust of rocketships, the harsh, glamorous loneliness.

RAYMOND Z. GALLUN

"Prodigal's Aura"


How dear to the mind of the sage are the thoughts that are bred in loneliness; for there is as it were music at his heart, and he talketh within him as with friends.

MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER

Tupper's Proverbial Philosophy

Tags: Martin Farquhar Tupper


Loneliness is the human condition. Cultivate it. The way it tunnels into you allows your soul room to grow. Never expect to outgrow loneliness. Never hope to find people who will understand you, someone to fill that space. An intelligent, sensitive person is the exception, the very great exception. If you expect to find people who will understand you, you will grow murderous with disappointment. The best you'll ever do is to understand yourself, know what it is that you want, and not let the cattle stand in your way.

JANET FITCH

White Oleander


Nothing is more sterile or lamentable than the man content to live within himself.

HAROLD PINTER

Tea Party

Tags: Harold Pinter