--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I was thinking a lot about loneliness…" description: "\"“I was thinking a lot about loneliness, because we were now reading Kokoro, a remarkable novel by Natsume Soseki, which was published in 1914 and was o..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0df/will-schwalbe-3101_loneliness_i-was-thinking-a-lot-about-loneliness-be_2660542.jpg" --- # I was thinking a lot about loneliness, because we were now… ![“I was thinking a lot about loneliness, because we were now reading Kokoro, a remarkable novel by Natsume Soseki, which was published in 1914 and was one of fourteen novels Soseki wrote after retiring from a professorship at Tokyo’s Imperial University. It was a book I’d read once before, in…” quote by Will Schwalbe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0df/will-schwalbe-3101_loneliness_i-was-thinking-a-lot-about-loneliness-be_2660542.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0df/will-schwalbe-3101_loneliness_i-was-thinking-a-lot-about-loneliness-be_2660542.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0df/will-schwalbe-3101_loneliness_i-was-thinking-a-lot-about-loneliness-be_2660542.jpg) > ““I was thinking a lot about loneliness, because we were now reading Kokoro, a remarkable novel by Natsume Soseki, which was published in 1914 and was one of fourteen novels Soseki wrote after retiring from a professorship at Tokyo’s Imperial University. It was a book I’d read once before, in college, when I’d taken a course from its translator, Edwin McClellan. I’d been struck by Soseki’s exploration of the complex nature of friendship, especially among people who aren’t equals, in this case a student and his teacher. I wanted Mom to read it, and to read it again myself. When we talked about the novel, we discovered that we both had been startled by the same quote, an explanation of loneliness the teacher tells to the young man. The teacher says: “Loneliness is the price we have to pay for being born in this modern world, so full of freedom, independence and our own egotistical selves.”” [Will Schwalbe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-schwalbe/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Loneliness is portrayed as an inevitable cost of modern freedom and individualism, especially in unequal relationships like teacher‑student. **In simple terms:** Modern freedom brings loneliness. Key Takeaway Recognize loneliness as a sign of personal freedom. Themes loneliness modernity individualism relationships Mood reflective melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - student‑teacher dynamics - personal reflection - literary discussion Key Concepts existentialism social psychology Questions to Reflect On - How does freedom create isolation? - Can equality reduce loneliness? A Different Perspective Loneliness can be mitigated by community and shared purpose. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Loneliness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loneliness/) [Loneliness Reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loneliness-reading-2424319/) [Modern world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-world/) [Novels Soseki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novels-soseki-2424316/) [Reading Kokoro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading-kokoro-2424317/) [Soseki Published](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soseki-published-2424318/) [Soseki Wrote](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soseki-wrote-2424315/) [Young man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/young-man/) ## Related quotes > [“I kill my loneliness by reading and (then) writing, damn.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desi-puspitasari/i-kill-my-loneliness-by-reading-and-then-writing-damn/) [Desi Puspitasari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desi-puspitasari/) > [“Loneliness is the price we have to pay for being born in this modern world, so full of freedom, independence and our own egotistical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-schwalbe/loneliness-is-the-price-we-have-to-pay-for-being-born-in-this-modern/) [Will Schwalbe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-schwalbe/) > [Revisiting the Revolutionary War is a bracing reminder that the fate of a continent, and the shape of the modern world, turned on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/revisiting-the-revolutionary-war-is-a-bracing-reminder-that-the-fate/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Every well-thought-out rebuttal to dogma, every scrap of intelligent logic, every absurdist reduction of some bullying stance is the antidote.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-sanders/every-well-thought-out-rebuttal-to-dogma-every-scrap-of-intelligent/) [George Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-sanders/) > [ “And while \[we\] do have possibilities that are vast and magnificent and almost infinite in scope, it's important to remember that our choice-rich lives… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/and-while-we-do-have-possibilities-that-are-vast-and-magnificent-and/) [Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/) > [A building is akin to dogma; it is insolent, like dogma. 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A lonely me, a lonely you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-is-the-opposite-of-two-a-lonely-me-a-lonely-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We often refer to loneliness as something negative. And we look at it as a weakness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-shetty/we-often-refer-to-loneliness-as-something-negative-and-we-look-at-it/) [Jay Shetty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-shetty/) > [I need the pain of loneliness to make my imagination work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orhan-pamuk/i-need-the-pain-of-loneliness-to-make-my-imagination-work/) [Orhan Pamuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orhan-pamuk/) > [There was only the broad square with the scattered dim moons of the street lamps and with the monumental stone arch which receded into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-maria-remarque/there-was-only-the-broad-square-with-the-scattered-dim-moons-of-the/) [Erich Maria Remarque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-maria-remarque/) > [A man in a bookstore buys a book on loneliness and every woman in the store hits on him. 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Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-g-scott/) > [Get away from me misery, get away from me loneliness, get away from me fake bitches I can't take the phoniness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kanye-west/get-away-from-me-misery-get-away-from-me-loneliness-get-away-from-me/) [Kanye West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kanye-west/) [Browse all 4,995 Loneliness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loneliness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I was thinking a lot about loneliness, because we were now reading Kokoro, a remarkable novel by Natsume Soseki, which was published in 1914 and was one of fourteen novels Soseki wrote after retiring from a professorship at Tokyo’s Imperial University. It was a book I’d read once before, in college, when I’d taken a course from its translator, Edwin McClellan. I’d been struck by Soseki’s exploration of the complex nature of friendship, especially among people who aren’t equals, in this case a student and his teacher. I wanted Mom to read it, and to read it again myself. When we talked about the novel, we discovered that we both had been startled by the same quote, an explanation of loneliness the teacher tells to the young man. 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