WIST Quotations

Hugo, Victor -- The Man Who Laughs [L’Homme qui rit; The Laughing Man; By Order of the King], Part 1, Preliminary, ch. 1 (1.0.1) (1869) [tr. Unknown, Authorized (1871)]

Dave — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 20:10:16 +0000

Of a disposition at once unsociable and talkative, desiring to see no one, yet wishing to converse with some one, he solved the difficulty by talking to himself.

[D’une complexion farouche et bavarde, ayant le désir de ne voir personne et le besoin de parler à quelqu’un, il se tirait d’affaire en se parlant à lui-même.]

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician
The Man Who Laughs [L’Homme qui rit; The Laughing Man; By Order of the King], Part 1, Preliminary, ch. 1 (1.0.1) (1869) [tr. Unknown, Authorized (1871)]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

Of a disposition at once unsociable and talkative, desiring to see no one, yet longing to converse with some one, he solved the difficulty by talking to himself.
[tr. Unknown (1869)]

Of a shy and loquacious disposition, desiring to see no one, yet feeling the need of talking to some one, he extricated himself from the dilemma by talking to himself.
[tr. Hapgood (1888)]

Of an unsociable and talkative disposition, not wanting to see any one, and yet wanting to talk to some one, he got out of the difficulty by talking to himself.
[tr. Phillips (1894)]

Of a fierce and talkative disposition, with a desire to see no one and a need to talk to someone, he got by by talking to himself.
[tr. Lavelle (2003)]

Russell, Bertrand -- Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 11 “Zest” (1930)

Dave — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 18:39:53 +0000

The more things a man is interested in, the more opportunities of happiness he has, and the less he is at the mercy of fate, since if he loses one thing he can fall back upon another. Life is too short to be interested in everything, but it is good to be interested in as many things as are necessary to fill our days. We are all prone to the malady of the introvert, who, with the manifold spectacle of the world spread out before him, turns away and gazes only upon the emptiness within.

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 11 “Zest” (1930)

Twain, Mark -- Dictation (1907-07-30)

Dave — Mon, 20 May 2024 15:08:51 +0000

A banquet is probably the most fatiguing thing in the world except ditch-digging.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Dictation (1907-07-30)

In Benjamin Griffin and Harriet Elinor Smith, eds., Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 3 (pub. 2015).

Also recorded in Bernard DeVoto, ed., Mark Twain in Eruption, "The Last Visit to England," ch. 1 "White and Red" (1940). DeVoto identifies it coming from the dictations of July-August 1907.

Jerome, Jerome K. -- Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Being Shy” (1886)

Dave — Mon, 20 May 2024 14:26:51 +0000

A shy man means a lonely man — a man cut off from all companionship, all sociability. He moves about the world, but does not mix with it. Between him and his fellow-men there runs ever an impassable barrier — a strong, invisible wall that, trying in vain to scale, he but bruises himself against. He sees the pleasant faces and hears the pleasant voices on the other side, but he cannot stretch his hand across to grasp another hand. He stands watching the merry groups, and he longs to speak and to claim kindred with them. But they pass him by, chatting gayly to one another, and he cannot stay them. He tries to reach them, but his prison walls move with him and hem him in on every side. In the busy street, in the crowded room, in the grind of work, in the whirl of pleasure, amid the many or amid the few — wherever men congregate together, wherever the music of human speech is heard and human thought is flashed from human eyes, there, shunned and solitary, the shy man, like a leper, stands apart. His soul is full of love and longing, but the world knows it not. The iron mask of shyness is riveted before his face, and the man beneath is never seen.

Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Being Shy” (1886)

Landers, Ann -- “Ask Ann Landers,” syndicated column (1991-06-19)

Dave — Thu, 02 May 2024 16:27:11 +0000

At every party there are two kinds of people — those who want to go home and those who don’t. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other.

Ann Landers (1918–2002) American advice columnist [pseud. for Eppie Lederer]
“Ask Ann Landers,” syndicated column (1991-06-19)

Where a source for this is cited, it is at the above date and in International Herald Tribune, presumably as part of her syndicated column. The quotation is included in a rotating sidebar element at Landers' website, but cannot be found in search on the site.

Austen, Jane -- Pride and Prejudice, ch. 18 [Elizabeth] (1813)

Dave — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 16:54:10 +0000

We are of each an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room, and be handed down to posterity with all of the eclat of a proverb.

Jane Austen (1775–1817) English author
Pride and Prejudice, ch. 18 [Elizabeth] (1813)

Austen, Jane -- Sense and Sensibility, ch. 17 [Edward] (1811)

Dave — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 16:40:28 +0000

I never wish to offend, but I am so foolishly shy, that I often seem negligent, when I am only kept back by my natural awkwardness.

Jane Austen (1775–1817) English author
Sense and Sensibility, ch. 17 [Edward] (1811)

Einstein, Albert -- “My Credo Mein Glaubensbekenntnis],” recording for the German League of Human Rights (Autumn 1932)

Dave — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 18:48:12 +0000

I am an adherent of the ideal of democracy, although I know well the weaknesses of the democratic form of government. Social equality and economic protection of the individual have always seemed to me the important communal aims of the state. Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice keeps me from feeling isolated.

[Ich bekenne mich zum Ideal der Demokratie, trotzdem mir die Nachteile demokratischer Staatsform wohlbekannt sind. Sozialer Ausgleich und wirtschaftlicher Schutz des Individuums erschienen mir stets als wichtige Ziele der staatlichen Gemeinschaft. ch bin zwar im täglichen Leben ein typischer Einspänner, aber das Bewusstsein, der unsichtbaren Gemeinschaft derjenigen anzugehören, die nach Wahrheit, Schönheit und Gerechtigkeit streben, hat das Gefühl der Vereinsamung nicht aufkommen lassen.]

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-American physicist
“My Credo Mein Glaubensbekenntnis],” recording for the German League of Human Rights (Autumn 1932)

Einstein crafted and recrafted his credo multiple times in this period, and specifics are often muddled by differing translations and by his reuse of certain phrases in later writing.

Bukowski, Charles -- Journal entry (21 Sep 1991), The Captain is Out to Lunch (1998)

Dave — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 14:55:32 +0000

People empty me. I have to get away to refill.

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) German-American author, poet
Journal entry (21 Sep 1991), The Captain is Out to Lunch (1998)

Taylor, Barbara Brown -- An Altar in the World, ch. 7 (2009)

Dave — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 22:39:19 +0000

It can be difficult to be an introvert in church, especially if you happen to be the pastor. Liking to be alone can be interpreted as a judgment on other people’s company. Liking to be quiet can be construed as aloofness. There is so much emphasis on community in most congregations that anyone who does not participate risks being labeled a loner.

Barbara Brown Taylor (b. 1951) American minister, academic, author
An Altar in the World, ch. 7 (2009)

Bukowski, Charles -- Barfly (1987)

Dave — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 14:21:21 +0000

I don’t hate people, I just feel better when they aren’t around.

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) German-American author, poet
Barfly (1987)

From the movie screenplay by Bukowski.

This is the way the phrase is usually quoted, but it's actually a series of lines when Henry (a character standing in for Bukowski himself) first meets Wanda.

WANDA: I can't stand people. I hate them.
HENRY: Yeah?
WANDA: You hate them?
HENRY: No, but I seem to feel better when they're not around.

Bukowski is actually in the scene as the barfly closest to Wanda before Henry moves next to her. Video clip.

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitude (1973)

Dave — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 16:52:54 +0000

There is no doubt that solitude is a challenge and to maintain balance within it a precarious business. But I must not forget that, for me, being with people or even with one beloved person for any length of time without solitude is even worse. I lose my center. I feel dispersed, scattered, in pieces. I must have time alone in which to mull over my encounter, and to extract its juice, its essence, to understand what has really happened to me as a consequence of it.

May Sarton (1912–1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitude (1973)

Snicket, Lemony -- The Austere Academy (2000)

Dave — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:17:05 +0000

Shyness is a very curious thing, because, like quicksand, it can strike people are any time, and also, like quicksand, it usually makes its victims look down.

Lemony Snicket (b. 1970) American author, screenwriter, musician (pseud. for Daniel Handler)
The Austere Academy (2000)

Palahniuk, Chuck -- “Those burnt tongue moments–Chuck Palahniuk in interview”, Interview by Andrew Lawless, Three Monkeys (May 2005)

Dave — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 18:08:57 +0000

I love being with people. But I need a script, a role, something that will help me overcome my fears of rejection and shame. Most religions and belief systems provide a blueprint for some sort of community. And the religion’s leaders model a way of being. For example, in my book Choke, a character enacts his own death and resurrection every night — as does the narrator in Fight Club. Here’s Jesus, allowing himself to look terrible in front of his peers. That’s the biggest purpose of religious gathering: permission to look terrible in public.

Chuck Palahniuk (b. 1962) American novelist and freelance journalist
“Those burnt tongue moments–Chuck Palahniuk in interview”, Interview by Andrew Lawless, Three Monkeys (May 2005)

Helgoe, Laurie -- Introvert Power (2008)

Dave — Fri, 15 May 2020 19:16:03 +0000

I prefer to interact with people one-on-one. Any more than that, and the dynamic becomes competitive and then I get bored easily when I’m not directly participating in the exchange.

Laurie Helgoe (b. 1960) American psychologist and author
Introvert Power (2008)

Quoting "Suzanne".

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 4, ¶ 275 (1795) [tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]

Dave — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 01:12:12 +0000

People sometimes say about a man who lives alone: “He doesn’t like society.” That’s often like saying that a man doesn’t like to take walks because he doesn’t willingly walk in the forest of Bondy at night.

[On dit quelquefois d’un homme qui vit seul : il n’aime pas la Société. C’est souvent comme si on disait d’un homme qu’il n’aime pas la promenade, sous le prétexte qu’il ne se promène pas volontiers le soir dans la forêt de Bondy.]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741–1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 4, ¶ 275 (1795) [tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

People sometimes say of a man who lives alone: He does not like Society; but this is very often the same as saying that a man does not like walking because he will not willingly walk at evening in the forest of Bondy.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]

Sometimes it is said of a man who lives alone, “He does not like society.” Often it is as though one were to say that a man did not like walking because he would not willingly walk at night in the forest of Bondy.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

One sometimes says of a man who lives alone: "He dislikes society." It is often as though people said of a man that he did not like walking, alleging that he is loth to walk of an evening in the Forest of Bondy.
[tr. Pearson (1973)]

It is sometimes said of a man who lives alone that he does not like society. This is like saying of a man he does not like going for walks because he is not fond of walking at night in the forêt de Bondy.
[tr. de Botton, Status Anxiety (2004)]

Buck, Pearl S. -- Interview, New York Post (26 Apr 1959)

Dave — Wed, 24 May 2017 00:03:50 +0000

I love people. I love my family, my children … but inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that’s where you renew your springs that never dry up.

Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American writer
Interview, New York Post (26 Apr 1959)

Often paraphrased, "Inside myself is a place where I live all alone, and that is where I renew my springs that never dry up."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1838)

Dave — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 00:18:25 +0000

Solitude is naught and society is naught. Alternate them and the good of each is seen.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1838)

Helgoe, Laurie -- Introvert Power, ch. 1 (2008)

Dave — Fri, 16 May 2014 13:26:01 +0000

I’m rarely bored alone; I am often bored in groups and crowds.

Laurie Helgoe (b. 1960) American psychologist and author
Introvert Power, ch. 1 (2008)

Usually attributed to Helgoe, but cited in the book to "Don, Minnesota."

Bacon, Francis -- “Of Friendship,” Essays, No. 27 (1625)

Dave — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:28:07 +0000

A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
“Of Friendship,” Essays, No. 27 (1625)

Austen, Jane -- Letter (1798-12-24) to Cassandra Austen

Dave — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:40:16 +0000

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.

Jane Austen (1775–1817) English author
Letter (1798-12-24) to Cassandra Austen

Lowell, James Russell -- Among My Books, “Dryden” (1870)

Dave — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:02:29 +0000

Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.

James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) American diplomat, essayist, poet
Among My Books, “Dryden” (1870)

Milne, A. A. -- House at Pooh Corner, ch. 9 “Eeyore Finds the Wolery” (1928)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

You’ve never been to see any of us. You just stay here in this one corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. Why don’t you go to them sometimes?

A. A. Milne (1882–1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
House at Pooh Corner, ch. 9 “Eeyore Finds the Wolery” (1928)

Rabbit to Eeyore.

Sometimes paraphrased: "You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes."

Shakespeare, William -- Cymbeline, Act 4, sc. 2, l. 14ff (4.2.14-15) (1611)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

IMOGEN: Society is not comfort
To one not sociable.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Cymbeline, Act 4, sc. 2, l. 14ff (4.2.14-15) (1611)