“If he'd learned one thing while he'd been away, it was that loneliness is the most taboo subject in the world. Forget sex or politics or religion. Or even failure. Loneliness is what clears out a room.”

“One can experience loneliness in two ways: by feeling lonely in the world or by feeling the loneliness of the world.”

“At times, he even admitted that he'd been more an observer of the world than a participant in it…”

“With the loneliness
of you mighty men,
with your mighty kiss
that might never, never end,
while, so far away,
in the seat of the West,
burns the fount
of the heat
of that loneliness.”

“Loneliness is about the scariest thing out there.”

“If she could have anything in the world, he'd asked her, what would it be?

She'd answered that one without hesitation: a best friend. She hastily added, He'd smiled faintly. he'd thought but not said.”

“If he'd been in the military, he would have learned gun safety.”

“To experience the loneliness of soul is the hardest thing in the world.”

“Even loneliness is not absolute loneliness because the contents of the universe are in him.”

“we use TV as we use tranquilizers- to even things out, to blot out unpleasantness, to dilute confusion, distress, unhappiness, loneliness.”