How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line)
Quote #7
Andrey: In Moscow you can sit in a restaurant full of people, and nobody knows you and you don't know anybody, but still you don't feel like a stranger. In this town you know everybody and everybody knows you, but you're always a stranger…A stranger, and alone. (2.24)
That's pretty dismal. And it gets worse: when Natasha enters the picture, Andrey even becomes a stranger to his sisters, heightening his sensation of isolation.
Quote #8
Chebutykin: No matter how you rationalize it, my boy, loneliness is an awful business. (2.181)
The old bachelor complains of his loneliness, but we can't see him wanting it any other way. He's the one who's the most resigned to the way things are, even if it's not always fun to be lonely.
Quote #9
Irina: [Andrey's] finally become a member of the County Council. He's a member, and Protopopov is the chairman… The whole town is talking and laughing, and he's the only one who doesn't know anything, doesn't see anything. Tonight everybody went to see the fire, but not him. He just sits in his room and pays no attention to anything; he just plays his violin. (3.97)
Detached from everyone around him, Andrey seems clinically depressed. Plus, he's ignorant about (or at least ignoring) his wife's affair with Protopopov, his superior and the chairman of the County Council. It's pretty embarrassing, and definitely enough to be depressed about.