“What you notice is the loneliness. Daniel started to isolate himself, because it hurt less than being pushed away.”

“What a person is for himself, what abides with him in his loneliness and isolation, and what no one can give or take away from him, this is obviously more essential for him than everything that he possesses or what he may be in the eyes of others...”

“When you're socially awkward, you're isolated more than usual, and when you're isolated more than usual, your creativity is less compromised by what has already been said and done. All your hope in life starts to depend on your craft, so you try to perfect it. One reason I stay isolated more than the average person is to keep my creativity as fierce as possible. Being the odd one out may have its temporary disadvantages, but more importantly, it has its permanent advantages.”

“books are the arms which murder isolation, drive away loneliness, fulfill a friend's company.”

“Being noticed can be a burden. Jesus got himself crucified because he got himself noticed. So I disappear a lot.”

“...I realized that I knew less about loneliness than I had thought - and much less than I would know when he went away.”