“I avoided my own friends and acquaintances, yet the loneliness of my existence was insupportable.”

“A disquieting loneliness came into my life, but it induced no hunger for friends of longer acquaintance: they seemed now like a salt-free, sugarless diet.”

“Loneliness forced me to be my own best friend.”

“I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects.”

“So I separated all my books into stacks: best friends, old friends, classic friends, new friends, and casual acquaintances. ”

“I do not want your admiration now, because I do not want your insults in the future. I bear with my loneliness now, in order to avoid greater loneliness in the years ahead. You see, loneliness is the price we have to pay for being born in this modern age, so full of freedom, independence, and our own egotistical selves.”