Isolation is the sum-total of wretchedness to man.
 Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present (1843). copy citation

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Author Thomas Carlyle
Source Past and Present
Topic isolation wretchedness
Date 1843
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/13534/pg13534-images.html

Context

“whose life he watched over with rigour yet with love; who were prepared to give their life for him, if need came. It was beautiful; it was human! Man lives not otherwise, nor can live contented, anywhere or anywhen. Isolation is the sum-total of wretchedness to man. To be cut off, to be left solitary: to have a world alien, not your world; all a hostile camp for you; not a home at all, of hearts and faces who are yours, whose you are! It is the frightfulest enchantment;” source