By all means use sometimes to be alone. Salute thyself: see what thy soul doth wear. Dare to look in thy chest; for ‘Tis thine own: And tumble up and down what thou findst there. Who cannot rest till he good fellows find, he breaks up house, turns out of doors his mind.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
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
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
Only in solitude do we raise our hearts to the Heart of the Universe
—Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) Spanish Educator, Philosopher, Author
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
If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary, be not idle.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Books Writer, Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
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
When the superficial wearies me, it wearies me so much that I need an abyss in order to rest.
—Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet
It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your table and listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even wait, be wholly still and alone. The world will present itself to you for its unmasking, it can do no other, in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet.
—Franz Kafka (1883–1924) Austrian Novelist, Short Story Writer
Solitude either develops the mental powers, or renders men dull and vicious.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
All humans are frightened of their own solitude. But only in solitude can we learn to know ourselves, learn to handle our own eternal aloneness.
—Han Suyin (b.1917) Chinese-born Eurasian Novelist, Writer, Physician
Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Solitude and company may be allowed to take their turns: the one creates in us the love of mankind, the other that of ourselves; solitude relieves us when we are sick of company, and conversation when we are weary of being alone, so that the one cures the other. There is no man so miserable as he that is at a loss how to use his time.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
To fly from, need not be to hate, makind:
All are not fit with them to stir and toil,
Nor is it discontent to keep the mind
Deep in its fountain.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.
—John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American Naturalist
Solitude is fine, but you need someone to tell you that solitude is fine.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
For the self-development of men and women it is absolutely necessary that they should be alone with themselves at least one hour each day — to get the blessings of solitude.
—William J. H. Boetcker (1873–1962) American Presbyterian Minister
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
Solitude is a necessary protest to the incursions and the false alarms of society’s hysteria, a period of cure and recovery.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–72) American Jewish Rabbi
If from society we learn to live, it is solitude should teach us how to die.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Reading well is one of the great pleasures that solitude can afford you.
—Harold Bloom (1930–2019) American Literary Critic, Author
Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Ah, mon cher, for anyone who is alone, without God and without a master, the weight of days is dreadful.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
I learned…that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985) American Journalist Memoirist
Living a good deal alone will, I believe, correct me of my faults; for a man can do without his own approbations in society, but he must make great exertions to gain it when he lives alone. Without it I am convinced solitude is not to be endured.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
In solitude, where we are least alone.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
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
An artist is always alone—if he is an artist. No, what the artist needs is loneliness.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist