Loneliness is the human condition. Cultivate it. The way it tunnels into you allows your soul room to grow. Never expect to outgrow loneliness. Never hope to find people who will understand you, someone to fill that space. An intelligent, sensitive person is the exception, the very great exception. If you expect to find people who will understand you, you will grow murderous with disappointment. The best you’ll ever do is to understand yourself, know what it is that you want, and not let the cattle stand in your way.”
Janet Fitch, White Oleander
The last sentence is profound indeed. I prefer however to “know what it is I
believe in / stand for.” what we want can be a dangerous thing.
Cafe Book Bean 
Wow. That paragraph echoes my thoughts so closely. Thank you so much for sharing this.
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Happy to share it. I love it when a good books speaks to me.
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This is a great paragraph. I like the idea of using loneliness to grow and know yourself better. I think your adjustment is a good one, though. Knowing what you want is okay, but knowing what you believe in is a little more grounding!
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Heartachingly true. It’s interesting. This is the second quote about loneliness I’ve read/heard today. The first is from George R R Martin’s short story “The Second Kind of Loneliness,” (nor did I plan that meta). It seems to be a foundation of the human condition.
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That sounds interesting, think I’ll look it up. 🙂
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The story is in his Dreamsongs Volume I, but I believe you also may be able to find it in a free PDF online. It’s fairly short, but quite haunting.
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Loneliness as a positive, a tool to learn about one’s self; simply great.
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🙂
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What an interesting take on loneliness 🙂
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Just re-read this book. It’s full of profound paragraphs!
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You are so right about what we want not always being a good thing!
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Reblogged this on The Shameful Narcissist Speaks and commented:
I have few extra words for this. The author’s reverberate through my soul. I understand loneliness on a level that I understand nothing else.
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Don’t let the CATTLE stand in your way? Very nicely put. 🙂
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