A man is not so lost when he is not alone. At any rate, he has some one stirring at his side in hours of trouble or of uncertainty; and it is something only to be able to speak on equal terms to a woman when one is suffering.
 Guy de Maupassant, Pierre and Jean (1888). copy citation

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Author Guy de Maupassant
Source Pierre and Jean
Topic uncertainty suffering
Date 1888
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Clara Bell
Weblink https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Pierre_and_Jean_(Bell,_1902)

Context

“And then he wondered whether the wisest thing in life were not to beget two or three of these little creatures and watch them grow up with complacent curiosity. A longing for marriage breathed on his soul. A man is not so lost when he is not alone. At any rate, he has some one stirring at his side in hours of trouble or of uncertainty; and it is something only to be able to speak on equal terms to a woman when one is suffering. Then he began thinking of women. He knew very little of them, never having had any but very transient connections as a medical student, broken off as soon as the month's allowance was spent, and renewed or replaced by another the following month.” source