“I don t want to hide. I don t want to be alone. I don t want to wander off into the desert in shame and die and become vulture food. Or end up keeling over just because I m too self-conscious to leave the house. Cause of Death: Unnecessary Loneliness.”
“When I am all alone, I often, very often, say your name aloud…”
“Because in our pain we must find each other – mirror to mirror the grace of our shared humanity, the stunningly broken beauty of our shared grief. And you can let your grief see my grief and let our tears mingle into some kind of healing alchemy, and you’ll know what i know. That we are never alone. I promise. You and me? We are never, ever alone.”
“Loneliness is the endless disease that eats at our soul.”
“There is no shame in feeling broken. In seeking help. In searching for healing. Sometimes it is the breaking that leads us to the source of our own becoming. But we need not suffer alone. When you feel trauma or shame, if you feel depressed or alone – speak your truth, ask for help, insist without ceasing on the support that you need. You are not alone. As long as I am on this earth and forever after – you will never be alone.”
“By all means use some time to be alone.”
“আজ তাহার কেউ নাই; তাহাকে ভালবাসিতে, তাহাকে ঘৃণা করিতে, তাহাকে রক্ষা করিতে, তাহাকে হত্যা করিতে, কোথাও কেহ নাই; সংসারে সে একেবারেই সঙ্গ-বিহীন!”
“My past lives alone. That s why my loneliness wants to live in the past”
“On either side of Natalie as she walked toward her own room were doors: perhaps behind one door a girl was studying, behind another a girl was crying, behind a third a girl was turning uneasily in her sleep. Behind a certain definite door downstairs Anne and Vicki sat, laughing and speaking in loud voices whatever they chose to say; behind other doors girls lifted their heads at Natalie s footsteps, turned, wondered, and went back to their work. I wish I were the only person in all the world, Natalie thought, with a poignant longing, thinking then that perhaps she was, after all.”
“But it wasn t Neil or Buzz that had interested her, or even the moon itself. She had been attracted to the missions most unsung hero: Michael Collins, alone in Columbia, drifting around the moon in exquisite solitary splendor while Buzz and Neil had gone about the terrestrial work of putting down a plaque, erecting a flag, and gathering rocks. Every two hours Michael Collins had gone out of radio contact for forty-eight minutes when the moon stood between himself and Earth, and during those minutes he was the most alone person in the history of people. Helen still liked to think about that. That had always been her dream: space, not a location with it, just space.”
“And why was I sitting on the curb? I honestly didn’t know, but it was better than being inside my apartment, all alone. And yeah, I was alone out here, but it didn’t feel that way. I was pretty sure there was a squirrel over by the tree, so that counted for something, right?”
“If I’m my biggest fan, the only person in the stadium is probably me.”
“Ella era mía. Pero yo era más suyo de lo que ella entendía. Le pertenecía, también. Me lo debía. Simplemente no me quería.”
“You weren’t alone,” he says, making sure I hear every word. “And you weren’t floating.” “How do you know?” I ask. “Because I was carrying you.”
“Alone meant absolutely no one giving me shit, involving me in shit, or generally being a shit. Alone didn t care what you wore or how many days it d been since you washed your hair or shaved your pits. Alone accepted you exactly how you were. It never lied to me or let you down. For all of these reasons and more, I loved alone. We d probably wed.”
“Was there no one to help? He instinctively bowed his head and prayed. A warm feeling engulfed his battered body. “I’m not alone, I will never be alone. God is with me”
“I can t muster a smile. Even with the knowledge that it s dark outside and light up here, it s hard to believe that he can see us. We should be invisible. We are so alone. Mabel and I are standing side by side, but we can t even see each other. In the distance are the lights of town. People must be finishing their workdays, picking up their kids, figuring out dinner. They re talking to one another in easy voices about things of great significance and things that don t mean much. The distance between us and all of that living feels insurmountable.”