The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
In solitude the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself; in the world it seeks or accepts of a few treacherous supports—the feigned compassions of one, the flattery of a second, the civilities of a third, the friendship of a fourth; they all deceive, and bring the mind back to retirement, reflection, and books.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
Some boundless contiguity of shade,
Where rumour of oppression and deceit,
Of unsuccessful or successful war,
Might never reach me more.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
It is God who lets the wild apples grow, to satisfy the hungry. He showed her a wild apple-tree, with the boughs bending under the weight of the fruit. Here she took her midday meal, placing props under the boughs, and then went into the darkest part of the forest. There it was so still that she could hear her own footsteps, as well as the rustling of every dry leaf which bent under her feet. Not one bird was to be seen, not one ray of sunlight could find its way through the great dark boughs of the trees; the lofty trunks stood so close together that when she looked before her it appeared as though she were surrounded by sets of palings one behind the other. O, here was solitude such as she had never before known!
—Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) Danish Author, Poet, Short Story Writer
Oh, for the simple life,/For tents and starry skies!
—Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) English Playwright, Novelist, Zionist Activist
For solitude sometimes is best society, And short retirement urges sweet return.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
Solitude is the place of purification.
—Martin Buber (1878–1965) Austrian Jewish Theologian, Philosopher, Novelist
Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family —but to a solitary and an exile his friends are everything.
—Willa Cather (1873–1947) American Novelist, Writer
What call thou solitude? Is not the earth with various living creatures, and the air replenished, and all these at thy command to come and play before thee?
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
He who lives in solitude may make his own laws.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Only in solitude do we raise our hearts to the Heart of the Universe
—Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) Spanish Educator, Philosopher, Author
Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.
—May Sarton (1912–95) American Children’s Books Writer, Poet, Novelist
Solitude has a healing consoler, friend, companion: it is work.
—Berthold Auerbach (1812–82) German Novelist
I love people. I love my family, my children… but inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that’s where you renew your springs that never dry up.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
We are all prone to the malady of the introvert who, with the manifold spectacle of the world spread out before him, turns away and gazes only upon the emptiness within. But let us not imagine there is anything grand about the introvert’s unhappiness.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Leisure is a form of silence, not noiselessness. It is the silence of contemplation such as occurs when we let our minds rest on a rosebud, a child at play, a Divine mystery, or a waterfall.
—Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) American Catholic Religious Leader, Theologian
Language… has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965) American Lutheran Theologian, Philosopher
Well has he lived who has lived well in obscurity.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
There is a society in the deepest solitude.
—Isaac D’Israeli (1766–1848) English Writer, Scholar
I have a great deal of company in my house; especially in the morning when nobody calls.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
You cannot build up a character in a solitude; you need a formed character to stand a solitude.
—Austin O’Malley (1858–1932) American Aphorist, Ophthalmologist
Loneliness can be conquered only by those who can bear solitude.
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965) American Lutheran Theologian, Philosopher
Not only does democracy make every man forget his ancestors, but also clouds their view of their descendants and isolates them from their contemporaries. Each man is for ever thrown back on himself alone, and there is danger that he may be shut up in the solitude of his own heart.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
I restore myself when I’m alone.
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–62) American Actor, Model, Singer
The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
I really only have Perfect Fun with myself. Other people won’t stop and look at the things I want to look at or, if they do, they stop to please me or to humor me or to keep the peace.
—Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand-born British Author
What would a man do if he were compelled to live always in the sultry heat of society, and could never better himself in cool solitude?
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude! but grant me still a friend in my retreat, whom I may whisper, solitude is sweet.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
Solitude is the best nurse of wisdom.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
Solitude can be used well by very few people. They who do must have a knowledge of the world to see the foolishness of it, and enough virtue to despise all the vanity.
—Abraham Cowley (1618–67) English Poet, Essayist
Solitude is independence.
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) German-born Swiss Novelist, Poet
To have a quiet mind is to possess one’s mind wholly; to have a calm spirit is to possess one’s self.
—Hamilton Wright Mabie (1846–1916) American Essayist, Editor
Only in solitude do we find ourselves; and in finding ourselves, we find in ourselves all our brothers in solitude.
—Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) Spanish Educator, Philosopher, Author
Man staggers through life yapped at by his reason, pulled and shoved by his appetites, whispered to by fears, beckoned by hopes. Small wonder that what he craves most is self-forgetting.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
If the mind loves solitude, it has thereby acquired a loftier character, and it becomes still more noble when the taste is indulged in.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) German Philosopher, Linguist, Statesman
One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
An entire life of solitude contradicts the purpose of our being, since death itself is scarcely an idea of more terror.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
We dress our garden, eat our dinners, discuss the household with our wives, and these things make no impression, are forgotten next week; but in the solitude to which every man is always returning, he has a sanity and revelations, which in his passage into new worlds he will carry with him. Never mind the ridicule, never mind the defeat: up again, old heart!
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There are places and moments in which one is so completely alone that one sees the world entire.
—Jules Renard (1864–1910) French Writer, Diarist
Concerning the factors of silence, solitude and darkness, we can only say that they are actually elements in the production of the infantile anxiety from which the majority of human beings have never become quite free.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
We live in a very tense society. We are pulled apart… and we all need to learn how to pull ourselves together…. I think that at least part of the answer lies in solitude.
—Helen Hayes (1900–93) American Actor, Philanthropist
Shakespeare, Leonardo Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, and Lincoln never saw a movie, heard a radio, or looked at a TV. They had loneliness and knew what to do with it. They were not afraid of being lonely because they knew that was when the creative mood in them would mark.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
You have already failed if you need a lot of inspectors.
—Unknown
That which happens to the soil when it ceases to be cultivated, happens to man himself when he foolishly forsakes society for solitude; the brambles grow up in his desert heart.
—Antoine de Rivarol (1753–1801) French Writer, Epigrammatist
He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations—such is a pleasure beyond compare.
—Yoshida Kenko (1283–1352) Japanese Poet, Essayist
National isolation breeds national neurosis.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
Solitude is dangerous to reason, without being favorable to virtue. Remember that the solitary mortal is certainly luxurious, probably superstitious, and possibly mad.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
He never is alone that is accompanied with noble thoughts.
—John Fletcher