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Lonely people, in talking to each other can make each other lonelier.
LILLIAN HELLMAN, The Autumn Garden
If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected.
CHIEF SEATTLE OF THE SUWAMISH TRIBE, letter to President Franklin Pierce
The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.
HENRIK IBSEN, An Enemy of the People
Any decent society must generate a feeling of community. Community offsets loneliness. It gives people a vitally necessary sense of belonging. Yet today the institutions on which community depends are crumbling in all the techno-societies. The result is a spreading plague of loneliness.
ALVIN TOFFLER, The Third Wave
I was never less alone than when by myself.
EDWARD GIBBON, Autobiography
The main consequence of saying no to negative peer pressure is not just withstanding "the heat of the moment," as most adults think. Rather, it is coping with a sense of exclusion as others engage in the behavior and leave the adolescent increasingly alone. It is the loss of the shared experience. Further, the sense of exclusion remains whenever the group later recounts what happened. This feeling of loneliness then becomes pervasive but carries an easy solution -- go along with the crowd.
MICHAEL RIERA, Uncommon Sense for Parents With Teenagers
Nothing is more sterile or lamentable than the man content to live within himself.
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