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. Phillips (1894)]

Dave — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:41:36 +0000

Whoever has lived alone, knows to what a degree monologue is innate. The inward word itches. Haranguing space is an outlet. To speak aloud and alone makes the effect of a dialogue with the god which is within one. This was, as is well known, the habit of Socrates. He harangued himself. So did Luther.

[Quiconque a vécu solitaire sait à quel point le monologue est dans la nature. La parole intérieure démange. Haranguer l’espace est un exutoire. Parler tout haut et tout seul, cela fait l’effet d’un dialogue avec le dieu qu’on a en soi. C’était, on ne l’ignore point, l’habitude de Socrate. Il se pérorait. Luther aussi.]

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. Phillips (1894)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Other translations:

Any one who has lived a solitary life knows how deeply seated monologue is in one's nature. Speech imprisoned longs to find a vent. To harangue space is an outlet. To talk out loud when one is alone is as it were to have a dialogue with the divinity within. It was, as is well known, a habit with Socrates; he declaimed to himself. Luther did the same.
[tr. Unknown (1869); Unknown, Authorized (1871)]

Any one who has lived alone, knows how natural monologue is. The inner word itches. Haranguing space offers a vent. Speaking aloud and alone, produces the effect of a dialogue with the god which one has within one. This was Socrates' habit, as the reader is aware. He declaimed. So did Luther.
[tr. Hapgood (1888)]

Anyone who has lived alone knows how much monologue is in nature. Inner speech itches. Haranguing the space is an outlet. Talking out loud and alone feels like a dialogue with the god within. It was, as we know, Socrates' habit. He used to talk to himself. Luther, too.
[tr. Lavelle (2003)]

Steinbeck, John -- East of Eden, ch. 34 (1952)

Dave — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 18:11:44 +0000

In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed, most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love. When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influence and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror. It seems to me that if you or I just choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to our world.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
East of Eden, ch. 34 (1952)
(Source)

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 81 (1725)

Dave — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 16:12:19 +0000

Better be alone, than in bad Company.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 81 (1725)
(Source)

See also Clarke (1639), Herbert (1640), Washington (1747).

Murasaki Shikibu -- The Tale of Genji [源氏物語], ch. 29 “The Royal Visit [行幸]” [Princess Omiya] (AD 1001-1015) [tr. Waley (1928)]

Dave — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 19:36:53 +0000

I have never thought there was much to be said in favour of dragging on long after all one’s friends were dead.

Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973 - c. 1014/1025) Japanese novelist, poet, lady-in-waiting [紫式部]
The Tale of Genji [源氏物語], ch. 29 “The Royal Visit [行幸]” [Princess Omiya] (AD 1001-1015) [tr. Waley (1928)]
(Source)

Millay, Edna St. Vincent -- Fatal Interview: Sonnets, No. 30 (1931)

Dave — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 20:48:35 +0000

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
Fatal Interview: Sonnets, No. 30 (1931)
(Source)

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 2, st. 98 (1812)

Dave — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 23:08:18 +0000

What is the worst of woes that wait on Age?
What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow?
To view each loved one blotted from Life’s page,
And be alone on earth, as I am now.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 2, st. 98 (1812)
(Source)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1966)

Dave — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 14:42:33 +0000

Love gives no warning and no quarter; it is sneaky and cruel; if we weren’t so lonely, we’d never put up with it.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1966)
(Source)

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)
(Source)

Doctor Who (2005) -- 03×06 “The Lazarus Experiment” (2007-05-05) [w. Stephen Greenhorn]

Dave — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 20:39:07 +0000

LAZARUS: You’re so sentimental, Doctor. Maybe you are older than you look.

THE DOCTOR: I’m old enough to know that a longer life isn’t always a better one. In the end, you just get tired; tired of the struggle, tired of losing everyone that matters to you, tired of watching everything you love turn to dust. If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you’ll end up alone.

LAZARUS: That’s a price worth paying.

THE DOCTOR: Is it?

Doctor Who (2005-Present) British science fiction television series, revival (BBC)
03×06 “The Lazarus Experiment” (2007-05-05) [w. Stephen Greenhorn]
(Source)

(Source (Video); dialog verified)

Maugham, W. Somerset -- The Moon and Sixpence, ch. 42 (1919)

Dave — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 04:06:39 +0000

Each one of us is alone in the world. He is shut in a tower of brass, and can communicate with his fellows only by signs, and the signs have no common value, so that their sense is vague and uncertain. We seek pitifully to convey to others the treasures of our heart, but they have not the power to accept them, and so we go lonely, side by side but not together, unable to know our fellows and unknown by them. We are like people living in a country whose language they know so little that, with all manner of beautiful and profound things to say, they are condemned to the banalities of the conversation manual. Their brain is seething with ideas, and they can only tell you that the umbrella of the gardener’s aunt is in the house.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) English novelist and playwright [William Somerset Maugham]
The Moon and Sixpence, ch. 42 (1919)
(Source)

Wilbur, Richard -- “Some Opposites,” Opposites (1973)

Dave — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 17:30:33 +0000

What is the opposite of two?
A lonely me, a lonely you.

Richard Wilbur (1921-2017) American poet, literary translator
“Some Opposites,” Opposites (1973)
(Source)

Jung, Carl -- Memories, Dreams, Reflections [Erinnerungen, Träume, Gedanken], “Retrospect” (1962) [with Aniela Jaffé; tr. Winston (1963)]

Dave — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 18:15:36 +0000

Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible.

Carl Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist
Memories, Dreams, Reflections [Erinnerungen, Träume, Gedanken], “Retrospect” (1962) [with Aniela Jaffé; tr. Winston (1963)]
(Source)

De Stael, Germaine -- Corinne, Book 1, ch. 2 (1807) [tr. Lawler]

Dave — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 20:16:52 +0000

Travelling, whatever may be said of it, is one of the saddest pleasures of life. When you feel yourself settled in some foreign city, it begins to feel, in some degree, like your own country; but to traverse unknown realms, to hear a language spoken which you hardly comprehend, to see human countenances which have no connection either with your past recollections, or future prospects, is solitude and isolation, without dignity and without repose.

[Voyager est, quoi qu’on en puisse dire, un des plus tristes plaisirs de la vie. Lorsque vous vous trouvez bien dans quelque ville étrangère, c’est que vous commencez à vous y faire une patrie; mais traverser des pays inconnus, entendre parler un langage que vous comprenez à peine, voir des visages humains sans relation avec votre passé ni avec votre avenir, c’est de la solitude et de l’isolement sans repos et sans dignité.]

Germaine de Staël (1766-1817) Swiss-French writer, woman of letters, critic, salonist [Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein, Madame de Staël, Madame Necker]
Corinne, Book 1, ch. 2 (1807) [tr. Lawler]
(Source)

(Source (French))

Bukowski, Charles -- “Oh Yes,” You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense (1986)

Dave — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 15:25:49 +0000

there are worse things than
being alone
but it often takes decades
to realize this
and most often
when you do
it’s too late
and there’s nothing worse
than
too late.

Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) German-American author, poet
“Oh Yes,” You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense (1986)
(Source)

Montgomery, Lucy Maud -- Anne of the Island, ch. 3 (1915)

Dave — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 17:25:24 +0000

What a comfort one familiar face is in a howling wilderness of strangers!

Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) Canadian author
Anne of the Island, ch. 3 (1915)
(Source)

Bukowski, Charles -- sifting through the madness for the Word, the line, the way, Part 2, epigram (2003)

Dave — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 19:25:10 +0000

Real loneliness is not necessarily limited to when you are alone.

Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) German-American author, poet
sifting through the madness for the Word, the line, the way, Part 2, epigram (2003)
(Source)

The book was reprinted as New Poems, Book Two (2011).

Sarton, May -- Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing (1965)

Dave — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 14:21:15 +0000

Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing (1965)
(Source)

Repeated in an interview with John McNally, Castaway's Choice, KCRW (1 Jul 1988).

Chabon, MIchael -- “The Loser’s Club,” Manhood for Amateurs (2000)

Dave — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 21:01:11 +0000

Every work of art is one half of a secret handshake, a challenge that seeks the password, a heliograph flashed from a tower window, an act of hopeless optimism in the service of bottomless longing. Every great novel or comic book convenes the first meeting of a fan club whose membership stands forever at one but which maintains chapters in every city — in every cranium — in the world. Art, like fandom, asserts the possibility of fellowship in a world built entirely from the materials of solitude.

Michael Chabon (b. 1963) American author
“The Loser’s Club,” Manhood for Amateurs (2000)
(Source)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1966)

Dave — Thu, 20 May 2021 18:29:31 +0000

Loneliness, insomnia, and change: the fear of these is even worse than the reality.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1966)

Welles, Orson -- In Someone to Love, film (1987) [written and directed by Henry Jaglom]

Dave — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 21:34:22 +0000

We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.

Orson Welles (1915-1985) American writer, director, actor
In Someone to Love, film (1987) [written and directed by Henry Jaglom]

Ad libbed by Welles, in his last film appearance.

Valéry, Paul -- “Moralités” (1932), Tel Quel 1 (1941)

Dave — Mon, 18 May 2020 16:26:20 +0000

God created man and, finding him not sufficiently alone, gave him a companion to make him feel his solitude more keenly.

Paul Valéry (1871-1945) French poet, critic, author, polymath
“Moralités” (1932), Tel Quel 1 (1941)

De Botton, Alain -- The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 4 “Consolation for Inadequacy” (2000)

Dave — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 21:40:48 +0000

Booksellers are the most valuable destination for the lonely, given the number of books that were written because authors couldn’t find anyone to talk to.

Alain de Botton (b. 1969) Swiss-British author
The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 4 “Consolation for Inadequacy” (2000)
(Source)

Neruda, Pablo -- Sonnet 65

Dave — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 18:31:30 +0000

… so I wait for you like a lonely house
till you will see me again and live in me.
Till then my windows ache.

[… y así te espero como casa sola
y volverás a verme y habitarme.
De otro modo me duelen las ventanas.]

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) Chilean poet, diplomat, politician [b. Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto]
Sonnet 65
(Source)

Whyte, David -- “Sweet Darkness,” House of Belonging (1996)

Dave — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 13:37:48 +0000

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn

anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.

David Whyte (b. 1955) Anglo-Irish poet
“Sweet Darkness,” House of Belonging (1996)
(Source)

Bronte, Anne -- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, ch. 7 “The Excursion” [Helen] (1848)

Dave — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 21:00:23 +0000

No one can be happy in eternal solitude.

Anne Brontë (1820-1849) British novelist, poet [pseud. Acton Bell]
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, ch. 7 “The Excursion” [Helen] (1848)
(Source)

Verne, Jules -- The Mysterious Island, Part 2, ch. 15 (1874) [tr. White (1876)]

Dave — Fri, 13 May 2016 20:28:43 +0000

It is a great misfortune to be alone, my friends; and it must be believed that solitude can quickly destroy reason.

[Malheur à qui est seul, mes amis, et il faut croire que l’isolement a vite fait de détruire la raison.]

Jules Verne (1828-1905) French novelist, poet, playwright
The Mysterious Island, Part 2, ch. 15 (1874) [tr. White (1876)]
(Source)

Harding, D.W. -- Social Psychology and Individual Values (1953)

Dave — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 17:23:53 +0000

A necessary quality for the attainment of individuality is the ability to tolerate some degree of loneliness in the sense of independent adherence to values that those around you will not support.

D. W. Harding (1906-1993) British psychologist and literary critic [Denys Clement Wyatt Harding]
Social Psychology and Individual Values (1953)

Wotton, Henry -- “Upon the Death of Sir Albertus Moreton’s Wife” (1651)

Dave — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 14:51:45 +0000

He first deceas’d; She for a little tri’d
To live without him: lik’d it not, and di’d.

Henry Wotton (1568-1639) English author, diplomat, politician
“Upon the Death of Sir Albertus Moreton’s Wife” (1651)
(Source)

Recorded in his Reliquiae Wottonianae (1672).

Morley, Christopher -- In Life (24 Oct 1969)

Dave — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:18:35 +0000

No man is lonely while eating spaghetti — it requires too much attention.

Christopher Morley (1890-1957) American journalist, novelist, essayist, poet
In Life (24 Oct 1969)

Roux, Joseph -- Meditations of a Parish Priest, 5.60 [tr. Hapgood (1886)]

Dave — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 13:00:39 +0000

Solitude vivifies; isolation kills.

Joseph Roux (1834-1886) French Catholic priest
Meditations of a Parish Priest, 5.60 [tr. Hapgood (1886)]

Carr, Emily -- Hundreds and Thousands: The Journals of Emily Carr, “16 July 1933” (1966)

Dave — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 17:53:59 +0000

You come into the world alone and you go out of the world alone yet it seems to me you are more alone while living than even going and coming.

Emily Carr (1871-1945) Canadian artist and writer
Hundreds and Thousands: The Journals of Emily Carr, “16 July 1933” (1966)

Tillich, Paul -- The Eternal Now, “Loneliness and Solitude” (1963)

Dave — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 19:56:41 +0000

Our language has wisely sensed these two sides of man’s being alone. It has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.

Paul Tillich (1886-1965) American theologian and philosopher
The Eternal Now, “Loneliness and Solitude” (1963)
(Source)

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler -- Poem (1883-02-25), “Solitude,” ll. 1-4, New York Sun

Dave — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 14:11:57 +0000

Laugh and the world laughs with you,
Weep and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) American author, poet, temperance advocate, spiritualist
Poem (1883-02-25), “Solitude,” ll. 1-4, New York Sun
(Source)

Possibly the most famous of Wilcox' works, these are the first four lines (the only ones anyone remembers) of three eight-line stanzas. Wilcox was paid $5 by the Sun.

Wilcox' original title was "The Way of the World," but the Sun editor changed it to "Solitude." She kept that new title when it was collected into Poems of Passion (1883).

Greer, Germaine -- The Female Eunuch, “Love: Security” (1970)

Dave — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:16:53 +0000

Loneliness is never more cruel than when it is felt in close propinquity with someone who has ceased to communicate.

Germaine Greer (b. 1939) Australian-English feminist, reformer, author, educator
The Female Eunuch, “Love: Security” (1970)
(Source)

Hoffer, Eric -- “Thoughts of Eric Hoffer,” New York Times Magazine (1971-04-25)

Dave — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:34:43 +0000

How frighteningly few are the persons whose death would spoil our appetite and make the world seem empty.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
“Thoughts of Eric Hoffer,” New York Times Magazine (1971-04-25)
(Source)

Hemingway, Ernest -- Death in the Afternoon, ch. 11 (1932)

Dave — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:10:49 +0000

There is no lonelier man in death, except the suicide, than that man who has lived many years with a good wife and then outlived her. If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) American writer
Death in the Afternoon, ch. 11 (1932)
(Source)

Propertius -- Elegies, Book 2, Elegy 33, l. 41ff (2.33.41-44) [tr. Moore (1870); 3.25]

Dave — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:48:05 +0000

Yet loneliness shall weary thee, and still
Love torture thee with longings nought can fill.
Absence makes passion’s tide have double sway,
Possession cloys the love of every day.

[Nulla tamen lecto recipit se sola libenter:
Est quiddam, quod vos quaerere cogat Amor.
Semper in absentes felicior aestus amantes:
Elevat assiduos copia longa viros.]

Propertius (50-16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 2, Elegy 33, l. 41ff (2.33.41-44) [tr. Moore (1870); 3.25]
(Source)

This quote (the third line) appears to be the origin of the English proverb, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." The first use of those exact words appear to be from a song by T. H. Bayly, "Isle of Beauty, Fare Thee Well" (1826?). For more discussion of the origin (and variants) of that phrase see etymology - Who is the author of "Absence makes the heart grow fonder"? - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange.

Not surprisingly, the idea of absence increasing (or decreasing) ardor is a a frequently discussed theme. See Montaigne (1587); English Proverb; Cervantes (1605); Rabutin (1660); La Rochefoucauld (1678); Johnson (1758); Mirabeau (1770); Ouida (1878); Antrim (1905); Shaw (1931); Bowen (1938); Stark (1953).

Propertius' elegies, as handed down, are something of a mess, and the assignment to them in particular books has been of sharp debate. This passage is currently considered a fragment, connected to 2.33 (and called 2.33A, or 2.33B, or 2.33C by different translators); similarly, the line numbering is sometimes carried across the entire 2.33, other times broken between the fragments. This fragmentary nature is also why the two couplets here appear in different order between different translations.

Nineteenth Century sources, based on the manuscript traditions of the time, assign this as 3.25.

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

Yet loath to bed her way lone maiden wends,
Love keeps her brooding o'er forbidden joys;
More deeply yearns the heart for absent friends:
Even of the leal [loyal] the long possession cloys.
[tr. Cranstoun (1875); 3.25]

But no one retires with good will to her solitary couch. There is something that Love forces you to miss. There is always a more favourable disposition towards absent lovers; long possession lowers the value even of the devoted.
[tr. Gantillon (1884); 3.25]

No woman takes herself cheerfully to bed alone though: there is something which Love makes you fain to look for.
Desire always burns kindlier toward absent lovers: long plenty of opportunity makes cheap the never-failing suitor.
[tr. Phillimore (1906); 2.33]

Yet no woman ever betakes her willingly to a lonely bed; there is a somewhat that Love compels all to seek. Woman's heart is kinder always towards absent lovers; long possession takes from the worth of the persistent wooer.
[tr. Butler (Loeb) (1912); 2.33]

No woman's bed is by her own choice lonely;
love marks the goal toward wich all men must strive;
the restless heart swings toward the absent lover.
It is not constancy keeps love live.
[tr. Carrier (1963); 2.33]

Yet no girl likes to retire to a lonely bed;
They all, at Love's insistance, look for something more.
For the lover who's missing the tide of passion runs strong;
The length of his tenure serves to diminish
The constant lover.
[tr. Musker (1972); 2.33B]

Woman's heart is ever fonder towards an absent lover: long possession lessens the appeal of the persistent wooer. Yet no woman willingly retires to bed alone: there is something which Love compels you all to seek.
[tr. Goold (Loeb) (1990); frag. 2.33C]

Passion is always warmer towards absent lovers;
Availability cheapens men-in-waiting.
Still, no girl likes retiring to a lonely bed;
At love's insistence you all miss something else.
[tr. Lee (1992); 2.33B]

No girl ever willingly goes to bed alone: something there is desire leads us all to search for. Passion is often greater in absent lovers: endless presence reduces the man who’s always around.
[tr. Kline (2001); 2.33A]

Passion helps the absent lover: long persistence
elevates the assiduous man.
No man gladly goes to bed alone, for Amor
gives us something all must seek.
[tr. Holcombe (2009); frag. 2.33C]

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, ch. 2 “Age and Death” (1931)

Dave — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:16:00 +0000

I cannot forgive my friends for dying; I do not find these vanishing acts of theirs at all amusing.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, ch. 2 “Age and Death” (1931)
(Source)

Hoffer, Eric -- “Thoughts of Eric Hoffer,” New York Times Magazine (1971-04-25)

Dave — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:10:55 +0000

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

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
“Thoughts of Eric Hoffer,” New York Times Magazine (1971-04-25)
(Source)

Sartre, Jean-Paul -- (Attributed)

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

If you are lonely when you’re alone, you are in bad company.

[Si vous êtes seul quand vous êtes seul, vous êtes en mauvaise compagnie.]

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) French philosopher and writer
(Attributed)

Widely attributed, in both languages, to Satre (especially by self-help books), but I am unable to find any actual citation of its source. Given that Sartre wrote a lot about loneliness, it is possibly a paraphrase of of something else he said.

La Bruyere, Jean de -- The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 11 “Of Mankind [De l’Homme],” § 99 (11.99) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]

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

All menʼs misfortunes proceed from their aversion to being alone; hence gambling, extravagance, dissipation, wine, women, ignorance, slander, envy, and forgetfulness of what we owe to God and ourselves.

[Tout notre mal vient de ne pouvoir être seuls: de là le jeu, le luxe, la dissipation, le vin, les femmes, l’ignorance, la médisance, l’envie, l’oubli de soi-même et de Dieu.]

Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 11 “Of Mankind [De l’Homme],” § 99 (11.99) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

All men's misfortunes proceed from their inability to be alone, from Gaming, Riot, Extravagance, Wine, Women, Ignorance, Railing, Envy, and forgetting their duty towards God and themselves.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]

All our Misfortunes proceed from an Inability to be alone; from thence come Gaming, Riot, Extravagance, Wine, Women, Ignorance, Railing, Envy, and forgetting God and our selves.
[Curll ed. (1713)]

All Mens Misfortunes proceed from their Aversion to being alone; hence Gaming, Riot, Extravagance, Wine, Women, Ignorance, Railing, Envy and Forgetfulness of God and themselves.
[Browne ed. (1752)]

All our misfortunes proceed from our inability to be alone; hence gaming, dissipation, wine, women, ignorance, slander, envy, neglect of God and ourselves.
[tr. Lee (1903)]

All our troubles spring from our inability to endure solitude: hence come gaming, luxury, dissipation, drink, licentiousness, scandal-mongering, envy, the neglect of oneself and of God.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]

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. Phillips (1894)]

Steinbeck, John -- East of Eden, ch. 34 (1952)

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 81 (1725)

Murasaki Shikibu -- The Tale of Genji [源氏物語], ch. 29 “The Royal Visit [行幸]” [Princess Omiya] (AD 1001-1015) [tr. Waley (1928)]

Millay, Edna St. Vincent -- Fatal Interview: Sonnets, No. 30 (1931)

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 2, st. 98 (1812)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1966)

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

Doctor Who (2005) -- 03×06 “The Lazarus Experiment” (2007-05-05) [w. Stephen Greenhorn]

Maugham, W. Somerset -- The Moon and Sixpence, ch. 42 (1919)

Wilbur, Richard -- “Some Opposites,” Opposites (1973)

Jung, Carl -- Memories, Dreams, Reflections [Erinnerungen, Träume, Gedanken], “Retrospect” (1962) [with Aniela Jaffé; tr. Winston (1963)]

De Stael, Germaine -- Corinne, Book 1, ch. 2 (1807) [tr. Lawler]

Bukowski, Charles -- “Oh Yes,” You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense (1986)

Montgomery, Lucy Maud -- Anne of the Island, ch. 3 (1915)

Bukowski, Charles -- sifting through the madness for the Word, the line, the way, Part 2, epigram (2003)

Sarton, May -- Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing (1965)

Chabon, MIchael -- “The Loser’s Club,” Manhood for Amateurs (2000)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1966)

Welles, Orson -- In Someone to Love, film (1987) [written and directed by Henry Jaglom]

Valéry, Paul -- “Moralités” (1932), Tel Quel 1 (1941)

De Botton, Alain -- The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 4 “Consolation for Inadequacy” (2000)

Neruda, Pablo -- Sonnet 65

Whyte, David -- “Sweet Darkness,” House of Belonging (1996)

Bronte, Anne -- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, ch. 7 “The Excursion” [Helen] (1848)

Verne, Jules -- The Mysterious Island, Part 2, ch. 15 (1874) [tr. White (1876)]

Harding, D.W. -- Social Psychology and Individual Values (1953)

Wotton, Henry -- “Upon the Death of Sir Albertus Moreton’s Wife” (1651)

Morley, Christopher -- In Life (24 Oct 1969)

Roux, Joseph -- Meditations of a Parish Priest, 5.60 [tr. Hapgood (1886)]

Carr, Emily -- Hundreds and Thousands: The Journals of Emily Carr, “16 July 1933” (1966)

Tillich, Paul -- The Eternal Now, “Loneliness and Solitude” (1963)

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler -- Poem (1883-02-25), “Solitude,” ll. 1-4, New York Sun

Greer, Germaine -- The Female Eunuch, “Love: Security” (1970)

Hoffer, Eric -- “Thoughts of Eric Hoffer,” New York Times Magazine (1971-04-25)

Hemingway, Ernest -- Death in the Afternoon, ch. 11 (1932)

Propertius -- Elegies, Book 2, Elegy 33, l. 41ff (2.33.41-44) [tr. Moore (1870); 3.25]

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, ch. 2 “Age and Death” (1931)

Hoffer, Eric -- “Thoughts of Eric Hoffer,” New York Times Magazine (1971-04-25)

Sartre, Jean-Paul -- (Attributed)

La Bruyere, Jean de -- The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 11 “Of Mankind [De l’Homme],” § 99 (11.99) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]

Harding, D.W. -- Social Psychology and Individual Values (1953)