Men frequently say to me, "I should think you would feel lonesome down there, and want to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and nights especially. "I am tempted to reply to such--this whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space. How far apart, think you, dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star, the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments? Why should I feel lonely? Is not our planet in the Milky Way? This which you put seems to me not to be the most important question. What sort of space is that which separate a man from his fellow and makes him solitary? I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another.
常有人对我说:“我想你住在那里一定很寂寞,总想着和其他的人接触一下吧,尤其是在下雨下雪的日子和夜晚。”这个问题诱使我想做这样一番解释——我们居住的整个地球,在宇宙中也不过是一个小点罢了。而别的星球,我们用天文仪器还不能测其大小,你想像一下它上面两个相隔最远的居民间的距离又是多远呢?我怎么会感到寂寞呢?我们的地球不是在银河之中吗?在我看来,你提出的是一个最无关紧要的问题。人和人群要被怎样的空间分开才会感到寂寞呢?我已经找到了,人腿再努力也只能让人们走在一起,却无法使他们的心彼此靠近。