Thornton Wilder Quote

[Dona Maria] saw that the people of this world moved about in an armor of egotism, drunk with self-gazing, athirst for compliments, hearing little of what was said to them, unmoved by the accidents that befell their closest friends, in dread of all appeals that might interrupt their long communion with their own desires.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Other Novels, 1926-1948 (ed. 2009)