Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Being surrounded by many people does not prevent feelings of isolation.
In plain terms
You can feel very lonely even when surrounded by crowds.
What can you take from it?
Crowds do not guarantee connection.

Where it applies

  • cities
  • public events
  • social gatherings

Putting it to work

  • seeking deeper connections
  • accepting solitude

Questions to consider

  • Why do we feel lonely in crowds?
  • Can solitude exist without isolation?

Another view

Some people thrive in crowded environments.

More from Brian Aldiss

  1. Monica Swinton, twenty-nine, of graceful shape and lambent eye, went and sat in her living room, arranging her limbs with taste. She began by sitting and think…

    Permalink to quote #37
  2. The directors of Synthank were eating an enormous luncheon to celebrate the launching of their new product. Some of them wore the plastic face-masks popular at…

    Permalink to quote #39
  3. She had tried to love him.

    Permalink to quote #36

Related quotes

  1. But after the intimacy-inducing rituals of puberty, boys who would be men are told we must go it alone, we must achieve our heroism as the Lone Ranger, we must…

    Frank PittmanFrank Pittman quote #2
  2. Along with the loss of the sense of self has gone a loss of our language for communicating deeply personal meanings to each other. This is one important side o…

    Rollo MayRollo May quote #4
  3. In busy companies of men.

    Andrew MarvellAndrew Marvell quote #21