Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller

Up to then I had not found a single friend in Paris, a circumstance which was not so much depressing as bewildering, for wherever I have roamed in this world the easiest thing for me to discover has been a friend. But in reality, nothing very terrible had happened to me yet. One can live without friends as one can live without love, or even without money, that supposed sine qua non. one can live in Paris - I discovered that! - on just grief and anguish. A litter nourishment - perhaps the best there is for certain people. At any rate, I had not yet come to the end of my rope. p184