"We're all in this alone"
About this Quote
"We're all in this alone" lands like a punchline that refuses to let you laugh it off. Lily Tomlin, a performer who built a career skewering American sincerity, compresses two competing national mantras into seven words: the feel-good solidarity of "we're all in this together" and the hard-edged individualism of "you're on your own". The genius is that she welds them into a single, impossible truth. It sounds communal and bleak at the same time, which is exactly how modern life often feels: surrounded by people, structurally unsupported.
Tomlin's intent isn't nihilism so much as deflation. She takes the language of comfort and shows the fine print. The "we" acknowledges a shared condition - anxiety, aging, work, grief, the daily negotiation of identity - but the "alone" exposes the private, untransferable part of experiencing any of it. No one can take your pain, your choices, your consequences. Even love, in this framing, is companionship without rescue.
The subtext is social critique delivered with comedian's efficiency. In an era of self-help optimism, corporate "family" talk, and later the glossy community promises of social media, Tomlin's line calls out the gap between collective rhetoric and individual reality. It's also an actor's wisdom: onstage or off, you can be in a crowded room and still be the only one inside your head.
The line works because it offers recognition without comfort. It doesn't ask you to despair; it dares you to be honest.
Tomlin's intent isn't nihilism so much as deflation. She takes the language of comfort and shows the fine print. The "we" acknowledges a shared condition - anxiety, aging, work, grief, the daily negotiation of identity - but the "alone" exposes the private, untransferable part of experiencing any of it. No one can take your pain, your choices, your consequences. Even love, in this framing, is companionship without rescue.
The subtext is social critique delivered with comedian's efficiency. In an era of self-help optimism, corporate "family" talk, and later the glossy community promises of social media, Tomlin's line calls out the gap between collective rhetoric and individual reality. It's also an actor's wisdom: onstage or off, you can be in a crowded room and still be the only one inside your head.
The line works because it offers recognition without comfort. It doesn't ask you to despair; it dares you to be honest.
Quote Details
| Topic | Loneliness |
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