Quotes About Isolation

She could have phoned one of three friends, but she could not bear to hear herself explain her situation and make it irreversibly real.

She was never coming back, she no longer knew what knitting was, but wrapping up her scores of needles, her thousand patterns, a baby's half-finished yellow shawl, to give them all away to strangers was to banish her from the living.

The journal preserved her dignity; she might look and behave like and live the life of a trained nurse, but she was really an important writer in disguise. And at a time when she was cut off from everything she knew - family, home, friends - writing was the thread of continuity. It was what she had always done.

Briony knew her only reasonable choice then would be to run away, to live under hedges, eat berries and speak to no one, and be found by a bearded woodsman one winter's dawn, curled up at the base of a giant oak, beautiful and dead, and barefoot, or perhaps wearing the ballet pumps with the pink ribbon straps . . .

He was a lovely boy who was a long way from his family and he was about to die.

From the first sentence, we come into a presence, and we can see for ourselves the quality of a particular mind; in a matter of minutes we may read the fruits of a long-forgotten afternoon, an afternoon's work done in isolation, 150 years ago. And what was once an unfolding personal secret is now ours.

could tell you similar stories of machine sadness.

The term teenager had not long been invented, and it never occured to him that the separateness he felt, which was both painful and delicious, could be shared by anyone else.

Robbie and Cecilia had been making love for years - by post. In their coded exchanges they had drawn close, but how artificial that closeness seemed now as they embarked on their small talk, their helpless catechism of polite query and response. As the distance opened up between them, they understood how far they had run ahead of themselves in their letters. This moment had been imagined and desired for too long, and could not measure up.

Our age could devise a passable replica of a human mind, but there was no one in our neighbourhood to fix a sash window, though a few had tried.

We have recorded the sound the wind makes on Mars, but we cannot listen to one another.…

Yes, I'm a hermit. Mostly I brood, Mad Rogan said. Also, I'm very good at wallowing in self-pity. I spend my days steeped in melancholy, looking out the window. Occasionally a single tear quietly rolls down my cheek.

Among young people, often a key factor in them committing suicide is the trauma of transient relationships. They throw themselves into a friendship or network of friendships, then it collapses and they're desolate.

Many people, especially young people, would like to be more independent and on their own. But it is very difficult and they suffer from feelings of isolation. I think that is one reason why young readers support my work.

I was on my own at Wellesley, surrounded by a lot of young women who were motivated and intellectually curious. I started to read because I was required to do so for class, but I soon found myself enjoying the seclusion of the library. I came to see reading as an important way to learn about people, including myself.

I really don't like that modern notion of 'I don't need anyone.' I see a lot of young women feeling they have to be that way, they have to be hard, in a way. And what does that bring them? They're just going to be lonesome. They're going to be, at best, lonesome and capable, at worst, lonesome and hard. And is that what we want? No.

I was picked on because I was timid. I had younger sisters; I couldn't turn to them for help. I didn't have an older brother.

I wasn't super emo when I was younger but I'm very neurotic, my mood swings really heavily so when I'm upset I go away from everyone.

I'm like Shrek. Shrek's a nice guy, but people keep alienating him, like they did with me in my younger life. I'm very loving and kind and generous - I'm a sweetheart!

As a teenager, even as a younger girl, I had some depression but no one really noticed that it was depression nor did I know in those days that that's what it was but I did feel different from other people.

I was desperate for a friend, and I used to lie in bed at night thinking about what it would be like. My younger brothers and sisters had friends, and I used to watch them playing to try to work out what they did and how friendship worked.

When I was younger and went on holiday with my family, I'd be almost agoraphobic. I would just want to be on my Game Boy and not speak to anyone.

When I was younger, I barely left my room because I was busy watching clips of my favorite actors and performers on the Internet.

Virtual environments are anonymous, and I'm concerned that people - mainly younger folks who grow up this way - will see social relationships as part of a game.