Ce grand malheur, de ne pouvoir être seul  

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"Ce grand malheur, de ne pouvoir être seul" is a dictum found in two short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Man of the Crowd" and "Metzengerstein." It is a misquotation of The Characters (1688), a book by Jean de La Bruyère.

It is usually translated as such a great misfortune, not to be able to be alone.

The original text by La Bruyère reads:

"Tout notre mal vient de ne pouvoir être seuls : de là le jeu, le luxe, la dissipation, le vin, les femmes, l’ignorance, la médisance, l’envie, l’oubli de soi-même et de Dieu."[1]

It translates as:

"All men's misfortunes proceed from their aversion to being alone ; hence gambling, extravagance, dissipation, wine, women, ignorance, slander, envy, and forgetfulness of what we owe to God and ourselves."[2]

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