solitude quotes

The career of a sage is of two kinds: He is either honored by all in the world, Like a flower waving its head, Or else he disappears into the silent forest.

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.

I was very depressed when I was 19… I would go back to my apartment every day and I would just sit there. It was quiet and it was lonely. It was still. It was just my piano and myself. I had a television and I would leave it on all the time just to feel like somebody was hanging out with me.

There’s love, and certainly children you care about more than yourself. But nevertheless, we’re alone in our heads.

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.

The time when most of you should withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd.

Don’t be a writer; it’s a terrible way to live your life. There’s nothing to be gained from it but poverty and obscurity and solitude. So if you have a taste for all those things, which means that you really are burning to do it, then go ahead and do it. But don’t expect anything from anybody.

If a man be gloomy let him keep to himself. No one has the right to go croaking about society, or what is worse, looking as if he stifled grief.

Cycling can be lonely, but in a good way. It gives you a moment to breathe and think, and get away from what you’re working on.

We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.

What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?

I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls.

I’ve been called a recluse. There’s definitely truth in that. I like to spend time alone.

I am a bit of a solitude person – a solitary personality. I like being on my own. I don’t have any major friendships or relationships with people.

I’ve always been a loner.

A creation of importance can only be produced when its author isolates himself, it is a child of solitude.

Hermits have no peer pressure.

All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.

I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man’s being unable to sit still in a room.

The land created me. I’m wild and lonesome. Even as I travel the cities, I’m more at home in the vacant lots.

The worst times were the years I was alone. The image to the public entering the courtroom was eight men, of a certain size, and then this little woman sitting to the side. That was not a good image for the public to see.

You cannot be lonely if you like the person you’re alone with.

The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.

Take a course in good water and air; and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you.

I love to be alone, and I did as a child as well, especially if I was outside.

Testing oneself is best when done alone.

Reading, solitude, idleness, a soft and sedentary life, intercourse with women and young people, these are perilous paths for a young man, and these lead him constantly into danger.

Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter.

You cannot be creative with people around you.

Life could be wonderful if people would leave you alone.

The primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men, necessarily, must avoid; the state of being alone.

It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company.

In football, I don’t have a lot of friends. The people who I really trust, there are not many… Most of the time, I’m alone.

One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.

It’s time to commit to finding the answer, to search for life beyond Earth. Mankind has a deep need to explore, to learn, to know. We also happen to be sociable creatures. It is important for us to know if we are alone in the dark.

I learned to fly a few years ago in England. It’s the only place I’m completely alone – up in the air, detached from everything.

A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode.

If you are lonely when you’re alone, you are in bad company.

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

I used to wonder if it was God’s plan that I should be alone for so much of my life. But I found peace. I found happiness within people and the world.

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.

To live alone is the fate of all great souls.

When I am working on a book or a story, I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you, and it is cool or cold, and you come to your work and warm as you write.

It is better to be alone than in bad company.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone, and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom, for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

No one can live without relationship. You may withdraw into the mountains, become a monk, a sannyasi, wander off into the desert by yourself, but you are related. You cannot escape from that absolute fact. You cannot exist in isolation.

Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.

The worst solitude is to have no real friendships.

We are rarely proud when we are alone.

One may have a blazing hearth in one’s soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way.

Even though I write about the human race, the further away from them, the better I feel. Two miles is great; two thousand miles is beautiful.

I don’t want to be alone, I want to be left alone.

I have to be alone very often. I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel.

Writing is a solitary experience. I’m extremely superstitious. If I talk about the book or name the title out loud before finishing, I feel the energy I need to write will be drained. It’s so intimate, I can’t even share it with my wife.

Solitude is independence.

The display of grief makes more demands than grief itself. How few men are sad in their own company.

I am alone a lot, which is good. I need that time to just be alone after a long day, just decompress. So, I go to either my house or the hotel, or my apartment, or whatever – wherever I am, I go home and I watch TV and I sit there, with my cat, and I just watch TV or go online, check my emails.

The age in which we live, this non-stop distraction, is making it more impossible for the young generation to ever have the curiosity or discipline… because you need to be alone to find out anything.

I’m an introvert… I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, the sky.