How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Perhaps it is impossible to understand one's own face. Or perhaps it is because I am a single man? People who live in society have learned how to see themselves as they appear to their friends. (6.22)
Antoine feels that he lacks basic social skills because he doesn't spend enough time around other people. He even muses that people who spend a lot of time around others learn how to see themselves as they appear to others. That's a pretty worthwhile social skill to have, especially when you're trying to make friends. Antoine, though, wouldn't know a whole lot about that.
Quote #5
"Before the War I was lonely and didn't realize it. I lived with my parents, good people, but I didn't get on with them." (24.163)
It turns out that—surprise surprise—Antoine isn't the only person in Bouville who has ever experienced loneliness. His acquaintance, the Self-Taught Man, also knows the sting of isolation. But unlike Antoine, the Self-Taught Man's need for other people has ultimately turned him into a humanist. That means he believes in universal human love. Antoine, on the other hand, has embraced his isolation and concluded that ultimately, individual human beings are born alone and die alone.
Quote #6
"When I think of those years… how could I have lived that way? I was dead, Monsieur, and I didn't know it." (24.163)
The Self-Taught Man has trouble figuring out how he was able to survive all his years of loneliness. To put it simply, he felt dead inside without other human beings in his life to love and care for. The ironic thing about this, though, is that the guy is still a total loner who spends all his time isolated in the Bouville library.