Insecurity twists meanings and poisons trust. In a closely beleaguered city every sentry is a potential traitor.
Graham GreeneRead
Lies had deserted me, and I felt as lonely as though they had been my only friends.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a deep sense of loneliness following the loss of false friendships that were built on lies.
In this quote, Graham Greene reflects on the idea that the truths we come to realize can often strip away the facades we cling to for companionship. The absence of deceitful friends can leave us feeling isolated, as those lies, while misleading, provided a connection that one deeply yearns for in moments of solitude. This highlights the complex nature of relationships, where sometimes the illusion of connection can feel more comforting than the stark reality of loneliness.
Themes
LiesLonelinessFriendshipTruthConnection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the importance of genuine friendships at a seminar on emotional well-being.
More from Graham Greene
All quotes →It seemed to Scobie that life was immeasurably long. Couldn’t the test of man have been carried out in fewer years? Couldn’t we have committed our first major sin at seven, have ruined ourselves for love or hate at ten, have clutched at redemption on a fifteen-year-old deathbed?
Graham GreeneRead
God is love. I don't say the heart doesn't feel a taste of it, but what a taste. The smallest glass of love mixed with a pint pot of ditch-water. We wouldn't recognize that love. It might even look like hate. It would be enough to scare us - God's love.
Graham GreeneRead
Of two hearts one is always warm and one is always cold: the cold heart is more precious than diamonds: the warm heart has no value and is thrown away.
Graham GreeneRead
Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.
Graham GreeneRead
Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector. It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors are only a challenge to tell lies successfully.
Graham GreeneRead
Similar quotes
Here's the thing: When you become brilliant at listening, people feel that you care about them. When they feel you care about them, they begin to care about you. And when people care about you, your success becomes a part of how they define their success.
Robin S. SharmaRead
Kiss and make up-but too much makeup has ruined many a kiss.
Mae WestRead
Some of the worst violence in the world today between estranged religious and ethnic groups happens not on the battlefields. It happens smack in the middle of living rooms and between people who share a lot, who have a lot in common.
Miroslav VolfRead
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
Abraham LincolnRead
I like actors very much, but to marry one would be like marrying your brother. You look too much alike in the mirror.
Marilyn MonroeRead
A lot of ink is given over to mythologizing female friendships as curious, fragile relationships that are always intensely fraught. Stop reading writing that encourages this mythology.
Roxane GayRead