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
We’re all of us sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life!
—Tennessee Williams (1911–83) American Playwright
It isn’t the oceans which cut us off from the world—it’s the American way of looking at things.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
Isolation is the sum total of wretchedness to a man.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Great men are rarely isolated mountain-peaks; they are the summits of ranges.
—Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823–1911) American Social Reformer, Clergyman
Solitude vivifies; isolation kills.
—Philibert Joseph Roux (1780–1854) French Surgeon
If isolation tempers the strong, it is the stumbling-block of the uncertain.
—Paul Cezanne (1839–1906) French Painter
A good artist should be isolated. If he isn’t isolated, something is wrong.
—Orson Welles (1915–85) American Film Director, Actor
Fear is only an illusion. It is the illusion that creates the feeling of separateness—the false sense of isolation that exists only in your imagination.
—Jeraldine Saunders (1923–2019) American Writer, Television Personality
We allow our ignorance to prevail upon us and make us think we can survive alone, alone in patches, alone in groups, alone in races, even alone in genders.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet
The isolation of every human soul and the necessity of self- dependence must give each individual the right to choose his own surroundings.
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) American Social Reformer
We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.
—Orson Welles (1915–85) American Film Director, Actor
I think isolation is one of the greatest problems, an ever-growing obstacle to political solidarity.
—Elfriede Jelinek (b.1946) Austrian Novelist, Poet, Playwright
National isolation breeds national neurosis.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
I am greatly pleased with the public, authentic isolation in which we two, you and I, now find ourselves. It is wholly in accord with our attitude and our principles.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist