Home > Work > Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto QUOTES

Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto QUOTES

1 " Writing is done alone. People do not talk about the things they do alone. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

2 " The loner who looks fabulous is one of the most vulnerable loners of all. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

3 " Because loners are born everywhere, we end up living everywhere. We do not, have not, tended to single ourselves out as special, elite, requiring rarefied environments. Too often we have done the opposite; lived where we lived because our jobs were there, or families, or because we'd heard the schools were good there, or that we would love a place with changing seasons. Then, no matter what, we put our noses to the grindstone. We take living there as a fait accompli, a fact. Too often we are miserable somewhere without realizing why. We blame ourselves for not buckling down, settling in, fitting in. The problem is the place, but too often we do not see this, we will not allow ourselves to see this. It's the same old thing: This is a friendly town, so what's your problem?
...To the non-loner, or the self-reproaching loner, the fact of being a loner is not comparable to those other determinants. It is not a matter of life and death, we tell ourselves. It its not a matter of breathing or of execution by stoning. But home is the crucible of living...So how can living not be a matter of life and death? "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

4 " We do not require company. In varying degrees, it bores us, drains us, makes our eyes glaze over. Overcomes us like a steamroller. Of course, the rest of the world doesn't understand. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

5 " Loners live among the mob, so the mob mistakes us for its own, presuming and assuming. When the mob gets too close, the truth is revealed. Running or walking away, chased or free, any which way, we tell the mob in effect I don't need you. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

6 " We care. We feel. We think. We do not always miss the absent one. We cannot always come when called. Being friends with a loner requires patience and the wisdom that distance does not mean dislike. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

7 " The whole world is a personality cult. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

8 " After what others would call a fun day out together, we feel as if we have been at the Red Cross, donating blood. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

9 " Not that I was incapable of friendship. 'Don't be shy', the teachers coaxed. I was not shy, only extremely choosy. And Denise shone like a diamond. If you had to ask me to define paradise, I would have said a desert island which Denise could visit, on a boat. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

10 " And as experienced as I am, it still summons an act of bravery from me, and I like that. I like the idea of setting an example - proving that it is acceptable to be alone in a public place where everyone else is in groups, and to just be sitting there eating, not having to be engrossed in anything else. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

11 " written works do not produce fast reactions as pictures and sculptures and music do. it takes no effort to see or hear. but to read - to grasp what the writer has done - requires commitment. engagement. as is the case with most art, the relationship between the maker and the audience is remote in time and space. the writer is nowhere to be seen when the reader takes up the book, or even dead. but most often, books go unread...thus the writer, knowing this as writers do, is even more alone...yet writers write. and knowing what they know makes their isolation almost a sacrament. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

12 " I don’t hate my relatives or those whose names fill my address book. But I do not want to have lunch with any of them. It is not personal. I am not angry. Nor is this about being afraid. I am not shy. I do not have terrible manners.

Do birds hate lips? Do Fijians detest snowplows? Being a loner is not about hate, but need: We need what others dread. We dread what others need. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

13 " People say the desert is desolate. Yet for me it's very much alive, full of surprises. As soon as I see those wide-open spaces, I can breathe, "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

14 " Loners can play well with others-the right others, "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

15 " They say isolation drives you crazy. Sure it does-when you can't get enough of it. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

16 " America trembles in fear of loners, yet Charles Manson is a social butterfly. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

17 " The mob thinks we are maladjusted. Of course we are adjusted just fine, not to their frequency. They take it personally. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

18 " Is socializing all that great? Riots are socializing. Arguably, more damage is done and time wasted in company with others than alone. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

19 " Alone, we are alive. "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

20 " The most horrifying thing about art is its honesty, "

― , Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto