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Quotes About Loneliness

There you have the difference between greatness and mediocrity. It's not an uncommon disease. But it's nice for a mediocre man to know that greatness must be the loneliest state in the world.
~ John Steinbeck
They walked side by side along the dark beach toward Monterey, where the lights hung, necklace above necklace against the hill. The sand dunes crouched along the back of the beach like tired hounds, resting: and the waves gently practiced at striking, and hissed a little. The night was cold and aloof, and its warm life was withdrawn, so that it was full of bitter warnings to man that he is alone in the world, and alone among his fellows; that he has no comfort owing him from anywhere.
~ John Steinbeck
I don't ever drink alone. It's not much fun. And I don't think I will until I am an alcoholic.
~ John Steinbeck
Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody—to be near him." He whined, "A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya," he cried, "I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.
~ John Steinbeck
The one-eyed man watched them go, and then he went through the iron shed to his shack behind. It was dark inside. He felt his way to the mattress on the floor, and he stretched out and cried in his bed, and the cars whizzing by on the highway only strengthened the walls of his loneliness.
~ John Steinbeck
Please try not to need me. That's the worst bait of all to a lonely man.
~ John Steinbeck
I'll tell ya one thing -- the jail house is jus' a kind a way a drivin' a guy slowly nuts. See? An' they go nuts, an' you see 'em an' hear 'em, an' pretty soon you don' know if you're nuts or not. When they get to screamin' in the night sometimes you think it's you doin' the screamin'--an' sometimes it is.
~ John Steinbeck
Curley's wife lay with a half-covering of yellow hay. And the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. Now her rouged cheeks and reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly. The curls, tiny little sausages, were spread on the hay behind her head and her lips were parted
~ John Steinbeck
And always, if he had a little money, a man could get drunk. The hard edges gone, and the warmth. Then there was no loneliness, for a man could people his brain with friends, and he could find his enemies and destroy them. Sitting in a ditch, the earth grew soft under him. Failures dulled and the future was no threat. And hunger did not skulk about, but the world was soft and easy, and a man could reach the place he started for.
~ John Steinbeck
Yeah," said George. "I'll come. But listen, Curley. The poor bastard's nuts. Don't shoot 'im. He di'n't know what he was doin'.
~ John Steinbeck
He smiled at her as a man might smile at a memory. Then he went out and closed the door gently behind him. Kate sat staring at the door. Her eyes were desolate.
~ John Steinbeck
And always, if he had a little money, a man could get drunk. The hard edges gone, and the warmth. Then there was no loneliness, for a man could people his brain with friends, and he could find his enemies and destroy them.
~ John Steinbeck
Now what the hell do you suppose is eatin' them two guys?
~ John Steinbeck
The dark swallowed him, but his dragging footsteps could be heard a long time after he had gone, footsteps along the road; and a car came by on the highway, and its lights showed the ragged man shuffling along the road, his head hanging down and his hands in the black coat pockets.
~ John Steinbeck
Kitaplar bir halta yaramaz. İnsan?n birine ihtiyac? vard?r, birine yak?n olmak ister. İnler gibi devam etti. Kimsesi yoksa delirir insan. Kim olduÄŸu hiç önemli deÄŸildir, yeter ki yan?nda biri olsun. inan?n bana, insan fazla yaln?z kald? m?, hastalan?r.
~ John Steinbeck
They's a time of change, an' when that comes, dyin' is a piece of all dyin', and bearin' is a piece of all bearin', an' bearin' an' dyin' is two pieces of the same thing. An' then things ain't so lonely anymore. An' then a hurt don't hurt so bad.
~ John Steinbeck
He stopped, feeling lonely in his long speech.
~ John Steinbeck
The calm and the sorrow were so great that they bore down on his chest, and the loneliness was complete, a circle impenetrable.
~ John Steinbeck
You wouldn't lay a trap for me? Lee asked. My wish isn't as strong as it once was. I'm afraid I could be talked out of it or, what would be worse, I could be held back just by being needed. Please try not to need me. That's the worst bait of all to a lonely man.
~ John Steinbeck
There is no loneliness like that of one who can only give and no anger like that of those who only receive and hate the weight of debt.
~ John Steinbeck
A writer out of loneliness is trying to communicate like a distant star sending signals. He isn't telling, or teaching, or ordering. Rather, he seeks to establish a relationship with meaning, of feeling, of observing. We are lonesome animals. We spend all our live trying to be less lonesome.
~ John Steinbeck
Guys like us are the loneliest in the world. No family. No place where we belong. Nothing to look forward to. We're different, we have a future. We have someone who gives a damn about us. I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you and that's why.
~ John Steinbeck
In utter loneliness, a writer tries to explain the unexplicable.
~ John Steinbeck
A light in the daytime is a lonely thing.
~ John Steinbeck