Source: The Scarlet Letter (1850), Chapter IV: The Interview
“A guest of one's time and not a member of its household.”
George F. Kennan (1904–2005) American advisor, diplomat, political scientist and historian
Referring to himself, as quoted in Political Realism in American Thought (1977) by John W. Coffey, p. 26
“I seem to myself, as in a dream,
An accidental guest in this dreadful body.”
Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) Russian modernist poet
Source: The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova
“When so many are lonely as seem to be lonely, it would be inexcusably selfish to be lonely alone.”
Tennessee Williams Camino Real
Don Quixote in Prologue
Variant: When so many are lonely as seem to be lonely, it would be inexcusably selfish to be lonely alone.
Source: Camino Real (1953)
“We cannot kindle when we will
The fire that in the heart resides”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools
"Morality" (1852), st. 1
Context: We cannot kindle when we will
The fire that in the heart resides,
The spirit bloweth and is still,
In mystery our soul abides; —
But tasks, in hours of insight willed,
Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.
Phan Thi Kim Phuc (1963) Child depicted in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken during the Vietnam War on June 8, 1972
"In Napa, “napalm girl” Kim Phuc shares story of suffering and forgiveness in Vietnam and beyond" in Napa Valley Register https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/in-napa-napalm-girl-kim-phuc-shares-story-of-suffering-and-forgiveness-in-vietnam-and/article_4f9225b8-0938-5509-b69b-abe13479fd4d.html (24 February 2019)
“My spirit longs for Thee,
Within my troubled breast,
Though I unworthy be
Of so divine a Guest.”
John Byrom (1692–1763) Poet, inventor of a shorthand system
"The Desponding Soul's Wish" (also called "My Spirit Longs For Thee")
Miscellaneous Poems (1773)
Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist
Source: The Complete Poems of Dorothy Parker
