Quotation from: The Secret Agent

Written by: Joseph Conrad

Mr Verloc went on divesting himself of his clothing with the unnoticing
inward concentration of a man undressing in the solitude of a vast and
hopeless desert. For thus inhospitably did this fair earth, our common
inheritance, present itself to the mental vision of Mr Verloc. All was
so still without and within that the lonely ticking of the clock on the
landing stole into the room as if for the sake of company.