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The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone

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Olivia Laing

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“Second semester will get better, had to get better, Madison thought. If nothing else, through sheer force of will, perhaps she could make it better. And if she told enough people that things were going to go well this time around, said it out loud repeatedly, maybe she could even convince herself.”

LonelinessCollegeSadDepression
Book:What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen
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“Lembro-me de que comprei, por esses dias, uma camisola castanha, de lã, e de que pensei então: «A quem falarei agora de todas as coisas sem importância?» A solidão é uma sôfrega evidência, alimenta-se de pequenos materiais, de circusntâncias e de passagens, devorando a vida por onde ela é mais óbvia: por dentro. Assim morremos os dois, tu e eu. Como poderíamos nós, ao telefone, saber que falávamos já, distantemente, de dois estranhos?”

LonelinessBreakup
Book:Poesia Reunida
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“The dictionary explained that the expression mother-soul-abandoned alone was derived from people-soul-abandoned alone and served to emotionally reinforce the adjective. A being that has been abandoned by a mother’s soul, you deduced, is one that has been abandoned by all others or even by the very soul itself and is, therefore, not only lonely but also downright damned to remaining forever expelled, with neither help nor home, speechless and therefore soulless, full of mute rage and yet filled to the brim with words that it would scream.”

LonelinessMuteness
Book:Moor
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“I have breathed on shadows, as one breathes into a soap bubble, to give it breadth and life. I did it because I had to, because human beings cannot live without history, and I have no history or tradition that is not located in a pale, aggressive body lying in the dirt, or hanging from a tree. How cruel it is to live in a community of two. I used to crouch on the floor, with my bedroom door open a crack so that I could peer out, and watch the lamplight on his motionless shoulders as he read, just to feel that another person was alive. I stole his papers in order to feel that I was not alone. I went through his cabinet. (I found nothing there but pencils, lamp oil, and thread.) I read all his books and tried, in my clumsy way, to debate them with him. What is the difference between a genius and a monster?”

HistoryLonelinessGenius
Book:The Winged Histories
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