“The multitude of men look satisfied and pleased; as if enjoying a full banquet, as if mounted on a tower in spring. I alone seem listless and still, my desires having as yet given no indication of their presence. I am like an infant which has not yet smiled. I look dejected and forlorn, as if I had no home to go to. The multitude of men all have enough and to spare. I alone seem to have lost everything. My mind is that of a stupid man; I am in a state of chaos.Ordinary men look bright and intelligent, while I alone seem to be benighted. They look full of discrimination, while I alone am dull and confused. I seem to be carried about as on the sea, drifting as if I had nowhere to rest. All men have their spheres of action, while I alone seem dull and incapable, like a rude borderer.(Thus) I alone am different from other men, but I value the nursing-mother (the Tao).”

“Have done with learning,And you will have no more vexation.How great is the difference between "eh" and "o"?What is the distinction between "good" and "evil"?Must I fear what others fear?What abysmal nonsense this is!All men are joyous and beaming,As though feasting upon a sacrificial ox,As though mounting the Spring Terrace;I alone am placid and give no sign,Like a babe which has not yet smiled.I alone am forlorn as one who has no home to return to.All men have enough and to spare:I alone appear to possess nothing.What a fool I am!What a muddled mind I have!All men are bright, bright:I alone am dim, dim.All men are sharp, sharp:I alone am mum, mum!Bland like the ocean,Aimless like the wafting gale.All men settle down in their grooves:I alone am stubborn and remain outside.But wherein I am most different from others isIn knowing to take sustenance from my Mother!”

“Stop thinking, and end your problems.What difference between yes and no?What difference between success and failure?Must you value what others value,avoid what others avoid?How ridiculous!Other people are excited,as though they were at a parade.I alone don't care,I alone am expressionless,like an infant before it can smile.Other people have what they need;I alone possess nothing.I alone drift about,like someone without a home.I am like an idiot, my mind is so empty.Other people are bright;I alone am dark.Other people are sharp;I alone am dull.Other people have purpose;I alone don't know.I drift like a wave on the ocean,I blow as aimless as the wind.I am different from ordinary people.I drink from the Great Mother's breasts.”

“I’ve never woken to another’s body in the same bed, not since I was a child. There is something about it that makes waking up alone seem unnatural. Man is not meant to be alone, yet men like us (or maybe men like me) appear to be lonelier than others.”

“Sometimes when i am alone out there, or even here in my house, it seems almost possible that i might lose myself: there in that silence where there is no need of words or discourse. i have heard it said that there are men who have lost their minds to it, reason drained away into the dissolving space of sea and sky. And indeed while there are times when this place is full of life, a raucous cavalcade, even then there is a sense of emptiness, as if some ancient silence lingers in the fabric of this place, something alien, and unknowable.”

“I know nothing - nothing in the world - of the hearts of men. I only know that I am alone - horribly alone.”