“A familiar sensation sparks inside me, the one I had a few years ago, the one that hurts because it’s dangerous and overwhelming. Knowing how it is to truly love someone is torturous. You try to bury that feeling. So you become lonely, deprived, and when you sense anything remotely like it, the emotion comes back to haunt you. It’s one sick fucking game.”
“I have found no other cure for loneliness than to befriend it.”
“I am alone. My heart beats only for myself. The strikers mean nothing to me. I have nothing in common with the mob, nor with individuals. I am a cold person. In the war I did not feel I was part of my company. We all lay in the same mud and waited for the same death. But I could think only about my own life and death. I would step over corpses and it oftened saddened me that I could feel no pain.”
“On the one hand we can t be alone, people like us; on the other we can t stand company. We can t stand male company, which bores us to death, or female company either. I gave up male company for years because it s totally unprofitable, and female company gets on my nerves in no time.”
“They will stare. They will stand to the side and watch her be alone.”
“Solitude is very different from a ’time-out’ from our busy lives. Solitude is the very ground from which community grows. Whenever we pray alone, study, read, write, or simply spend quiet time away from the places where we interact with each other directly, we are potentially opened for a deeper intimacy with each other.”
“The science of psychology lies within your own head making complex decisions and showing different attitudes”
“Let s just enjoy it for ourselves. Dawn is such a private hour, don t you think? Such a solitary hour. One always hears that said of midnight, but I think of midnight as remarkably companionable—everyone together, sleeping in the dark. I am afraid I am interrupting your solitude, Anna said. No, no, the boy said. Oh, no. Solitude is best enjoyed in company. He grinned at her, quickly, and Anna smiled back. Especially the company of one other soul, he added, turning back to the sea. It s dreadful to feel alone and really be alone. But I love to enjoy the feeling when I m not.”
“Material wealth alone is not enough to build a great nation.”
“On the way we talked about the road sign Bridge Ices Before Road. I always wondered, If that s a problem, why don t they just build the bridge out of the same stuff they use to build the road? Drema explained that the bridge isn t made out of different material than the road, but that the bridge ices quicker because it s alone, hanging there without the land under it to keep it warm.”
“I have friends, they love me, the use me, they leave. This has always been a cycle. Until you came and ruined everything.”
“Many of us are destined to be alone, while most of us sentence ourselves to it.”
“I can’t help but imagine what that would be like—to be all alone on this island with eternity taunting me with loneliness. To say goodbye to the last human you will ever see—there is no crueler hand of fate.”
“A few birds sang in the distance; everything was still. We were truly alone. This was it, no turning back now. Even if we did, it was a long walk home.”
“If you often feel alone, ignored, or forgotten, think about this: closing the door and locking yourself in won t change anything—literally and figuratively.”
“Even fairy tales have limits, said Sophie. Three people can t have an Ever After. Not without me being alone.”
“She has never understood, nor been able to relate to a herd mentality. She doesn t get along with followers and avoids the bandwagon. She marches to her own tune and does it alone. She s despised by the weak-minded and respected by the strong. She ruffles the feathers of the flock because she champion s the defenseless and pick s on the mob. Does she wish she could not give a damn and live an ordinary life surrounded by nodding and needy ordinary people? At times...but she d be bored out of her mind when she s never bored alone, and because of that she s patient because a couple of times in a lifetime she s lucky enough to come across a memorable, magnetic and remarkable person - one worth knowing, even if just for the brevity of a conversation.”