Nošu burtnīca - Proust

Friendship, according to Proust, is the negation of that irremediable solitude to which every human being is condemned. Friendship implies an almost piteous acceptance of face values. Frendship is a social expedient, like upholstery or the distribution of garbage buckets. It has no spiritual significance. For the artist who does not deal in surfaces, the rejection of friendship is not only reasonable, but a necessity. Because the only possible spiritual development is in the sense of depth. The artistic tendency is not expansive, but a contraction. And art is the apotheosis of solitude.

Samuel Beckett "Proust"