Quote Of The Day: Tom Hanks On Loneliness

Forrest Gump once said, “Life was like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.” This line uttered by Tom Hanks lives rent-free in our minds more than 30 years since the film’s release, and that’s a testament to the actor’s remarkable performance. Hanks has a filmography few can take pride in. The actor got his big break in 1980 playing Kip, a tenant who adopts a female alter ego to live at a women’s hotel in the ABC sitcom “Bosom Buddies.” He was worried back then that the show was going to be killed by Tom Selleck’s “Magnum P.I.” The latter aired opposite Hanks’ sitcom, which ran for two seasons.

Although the actor started gaining recognition in the small screen, nothing could’ve prepared him for where his career was headed. He earned his first Academy Award nomination for best actor in a leading role with “Big” in 1989, before winning the golden statuette two years in a row with “Forrest Gump” and “Philadelphia.”

Hanks also starred in a number of rom-coms (including two Nora Ephron staples alongside Meg Ryan: “You’ve Got Mail” and “Sleepless in Seattle”), historical dramas (“Saving Private Ryan” and “Apollo 13,” to name a few), and animations (even voicing the beloved cowboy toy Woody in “Toy Story”). His star power is so great that he even played himself on a number of TV shows. With so many performances worth mentioning and a successful journey on and off the screen, it’s hard to fathom that Hanks could ever struggle with loneliness. Yet, the quote of the day reveals that Hanks is much more like us than we could imagine.

“So I just got used to occupying myself by being alone. And that’s really great. And it can be really detrimental.”

The quote above comes from a guest appearance at the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast where Tom Hanks opened up about the trials he faced during his childhood after his parents’ divorce. The actor had to spend hours traveling to and from where his mother and father lived, and he never felt more alone.

The actor also admitted that the divorce prompted him to have autonomy over his own life at an early age. With his parents often out of the picture, he grew accustomed to loneliness, much to his own detriment. “A lot of times, being solitary can be confused with being lonely, and being lonely can lead to anger and resentments and stuff that you gotta work through,” he added.

What Tom Hanks’ quote teaches us is that it can be easy to feel self-sufficient and believe that you don’t need support from others. However, making loneliness a habit can be harmful in the long run. Hanks eventually overcame loneliness by finding art as a creative outlet. He wanted to make sense of the loneliness he felt and saw that performing could be a catalyst for understanding what he was going through. During a guest spot on the BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs, Hanks said: “I started asking myself: ‘How do I find the vocabulary for what’s rattling around in my head?'”

During the program, he also admitted that finding his person made all the difference when overcoming loneliness. With the help of his wife Rita Wilson, whom he met on the set of “Bosom Buddies,” he knew he wouldn’t be by himself ever again. “I don’t think I’ll ever be lonely any more, that’s how I felt when I met my wife,” he said. The pair tied the knot in 1988, following his split from his first wife Samantha Lewes.

With time, Hanks learned that being alone isn’t the answer, and that it’s important to build healthy relationships with people you can count on. His experience reminds us to look for a support system we can rely on and find our own outlet to express ourselves.

• “This too shall pass. Anything good that is happening to you right now will become gossamer ash before you even realize it, and any great struggle that you’re going through right now will be a bump in the road that you might have memories of a little bit later on.” — from a 2026 interview with Theories By T