“The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or of joy. The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present. Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.”
More from Alan Lightman
“Suppose that time is not a quantity but a quality, like the luminescence of the night…”
“It is a world of impulse. It is a world of sincerity. It is a world in which every word…”
“For it is only habit and memory that dulls the physical passion. Without memory, each…”
“In fact, this is a world without future. In this world, time is a line that terminates at…”