do you have any quotes on loneliness you particularly like?
Oh, boy... I do. Letβs see.
βββββββββββββββ
This night is now
half-gone; youth
goes; I am
Sappho, trans. by Mary Barnard in Fragments
βββββββββββββββ
Weβre each of us alone, to be sure. What can you do but hold your hand out in the dark?
Ursula K. Le Guin, from βNine Livesβ
βββββββββββββββ
My brother once showed me a piece of quartz that contained, he said, some trapped water older than all the seas in our world. He held it up to my ear. βListen,β he said, βlife and no escape.β
Anne Carson, inΒ βTheΒ Anthropology of Waterβ, from Plainwater
βββββββββββββββ
Heaven be praised for solitude that has removed the pressure of the eye, the solicitation of the body, and all need of lies and phrases.
Virginia Woolf, The Waves
βββββββββββββββ
I could live there all alone, she thought, slowing the car to look down the winding garden path to the small blue front door with, perfectly, a white cat on the step. No one would ever find me there, either, behind all those roses, and just to make sure I would plant oleanders by the road. I will light a fire in the cool evenings and toast apples at my own hearth. I will raise white cats and sew white curtains for the windows and sometimes come out of my door to go to the store to buy cinnamon and tea and thread.
Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House
βββββββββββββββ
And no one else remembers
Β Β Β Except the moon and I.
Roland Leighton, inΒ βClair de Luneβ, quoted in Testament of Youth
βββββββββββββββ
I have come home in love with loneliness.
L. M. Montgomery, in Anne of Avonlea
βββββββββββββββ
and I was downstairs reading the part in Wuthering Heights
where Heathcliff clings at the lattice in the storm sobbing
Come in! Come in! to the ghost of his heartβs darling,
I fell on my knees on the rug and sobbed too.
Anne Carson, fromΒ βThreeβ, Β in The Glass Essay
βββββββββββββββ
Thomas Alexander, Solitude
βββββββββββββββ
βthe way somebody comes back, but only in a dream.
Mary Oliver, from βWe Should Be Well Preparedβ, in Red Bird
βββββββββββββββ
I lock my door upon myself,
And bar them out; but who shall wall
Self from myself, most loathed of all?
Christina Rossetti, fromΒ βWho Shall Deliver Me?β, in Poems and Prose
βββββββββββββββ
I know you want me to tell you that hunger and silence can lead you to God, so I will say it, but I awoke. As the nail is parted from the flesh, I awoke and I was alone.
Anne Carson, in βThe Anthropology of Waterβ, from Plainwater
βββββββββββββββ
Ce nβest pas par hasard que tu nβas jamais Γ©tΓ© aimΓ©eβ¦ DΓ©sirer Γ©chapper Γ la solitude est une lΓ’chetΓ©. /Β It is no coincidence that you have never been lovedβ¦ Wanting to escape loneliness is cowardice.
Simone Weil, La Pesanteur et la GrΓ’ce (Gravity and Grace)
βββββββββββββββ
So. What are you seeking? The image youβve each created of the other? The people you think you love donβt exist. Not really. And thatβs a very lonely place to be.
Jonathan Sims, in The Magnus Archives [MAG 159]
βββββββββββββββ
aber immer wieder weggedreht,
wenn du meinst, sie endlich zu erfassen. /Β
over and over always turning away
just as you think you have grasped it at last.
Rainer Maria Rilke, excerpt of βSonnet 23 (Part II)β, trans. by Martyn Crucefix in Sonnets to Orpheus
βββββββββββββββ
Think of thisβthat the writer wrote alone, and the reader read alone, and that they were alone with each other.
βββββββββββββββ
Child of our timeβ
havenβt you found the right shell for your soul?
Edith SΓΆdergran, excerpt ofΒ βHopeβ, trans. by Herbert Lomas in Contemporary Finnish Poetry
βββββββββββββββ
When they made love
Geryon liked to touch in slow succession each of the bones on Heraklesβ back
as it arched away from him into
who knows what dark dream of its ownβ
Anne Carson, excerpt ofΒ Autobiography of Red