Solitude is un-American.
—Erica Jong (b.1942) American Novelist, Feminist
No man should go through life without once experiencing healthy, even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength.
—Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American Novelist, Poet
A man by himself is in bad company.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
National isolation breeds national neurosis.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
To dare to live alone is the rarest courage; since there are many who had rather meet their bitterest enemy in the field, than their own hearts in their closet.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
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
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
He is his own best friend, and takes delight in privacy whereas the man of no virtue or ability is his own worst enemy and is afraid of solitude.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Satirist, Short Story Writer
When we cannot bear to be alone, it means we do not properly value the only companion we will have from birth to death—ourselves.
—Eda LeShan (1922–2016) American Writer, Educator, Television Host
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
After all this kind of fanfare, and even more, I came to a point where I needed solitude and to just stop the machine of ‘thinking’ and ‘enjoying’ what they call ‘living,’ I just wanted to lie in the grass and look at the clouds…
—Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American Novelist, Poet
Amid the crowd, the hum, the shock of men, to hear, to see, to feel, and to possess, and roam along, the world’s tired denizen, with none to bless us, none whom we can bless; this is to be alone; this, this is solitude.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Oh! lost to virtue, lost to manly thought, lost to the noble sallies of the soul, who think it solitude to be alone.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Solitude is independence.
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) German-born Swiss Novelist, Poet
It is better to travel alone than with a bad companion.
—African Proverb
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
Solitude, the safeguard of mediocrity, is to genius the stern friend, the cold, obscure shelter where moult the wings which will bear it farther than suns and stars. He who would inspire and lead his race must be defended from traveling with the souls of other men, from living, breathing, reading, and writing in the daily, time-worn yoke of their opinions.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
One hour of thoughtful solitude may nerve the heart for days of conflict—girding up its armor to meet the most insidious foe.
—James Gates Percival (1795–1856) American Poet, Surgeon, Geologist
It seemed to be a necessary ritual that he should prepare himself for sleep by meditating under the solemnity of the night sky… a mysterious transaction between the infinity of the soul and the infinity of the universe.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
The whole value of solitude depends upon one’s self; it may be a sanctuary or a prison, a haven of repose or a place of punishment, a heaven or a hell, as we ourselves make it.
—John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury (1834–1913) British Banker, Scientist, Polymath
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
Who hears music feels his solitude peopled at once.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
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
The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Privacy is the right to be alone—the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized man.
—Louis Brandeis (1856–1941) American Jurist
I have never found a companion so companionable as solitude.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
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