Clay Shirky Quotes

All people want on this earth is to connect with others. Other than eating and sleeping. Human beings need to connect with other human beings. Otherwise, they lose their mind.

The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.

Humans are social beings, and we are happier, and better, when connected to others.

There is a social need within our lives as human beings to have harmony.

There is no pleasure to me without communication: there is not so much as a sprightly thought comes into my mind that it does not grieve me to have produced alone, and that I have no one to tell it to.

People need other people to feel things for them," she said. "It gets lonely to feel things all by yourself.

I love that there are others interacting with me.

Sometimes a woman needs a man for company, no matter how useless he is.

No one can be happy in eternal solitude.

You were one person alive and your brain was encased in a skull. There were other people out there. It took effort to be connected.

When you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, remember that your defining characteristic-what defines a human being-is to work with others.

I cannot go to the houses of my nearest relatives, because I do not wish to be alone. Society exists by chemical affinity, and not otherwise.

We are born helpless. As soon as we are fully conscious we discover loneliness. We need others physically, emotionally, and intellectually. We need them if we are to know anything, even ourselves.

Freedom is found through the portals of our nation's libraries.

There are no bystanders in life [...] Our humanity makes us each a part of something greater than ourselves.

I get by with a little help from my friends.

The moment man cuts himself off from living connection with the human race and its needs, he begins to die from poor circulation.

People are social beings and want interaction and social learning is the primary form of learning, just as word of mouth advertising is the highest form of advertising.

When a library is open, no matter its size or shape, democracy is open, too.

While I am sane I shall compare nothing to the joy of a friend.

To a heart formed for friendship and affection the charms of solitude are very short-lived.

We are only peripherally tied to the lives of others. It takes a long long time for us to become deeply involved with others, and for some this never happens.

I cannot live without people. I need to live my life with others.

When I walked into the Christian section of a bookstore, the message was clear: Faith is something you do alone. Rick does not have much tolerance for people living alone. He's like Bill Clinton in that he feels everyone's pain. If Rick thinks somebody is lonely, he can't sleep at night. He wants us all to live with each other and play nice so he can get some rest. Tortured soul.

Our loneliness makes us avid column readers these days.