Two Paradises t’were in one, to live in Paradise alone.
—Andrew Marvell (1621–78) English Metaphysical Poet
Solitude begets whimsies.
—Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762) English Aristocrat, Poet, Novelist, Writer
With some people solitariness is an escape not from others but from themselves. For they see in the eyes of others only a reflection of themselves.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
True solitude is a din of birdsong, seething leaves, whirling colors, or a clamor of tracks in the snow.
—Edward Hoagland (b.1932) American Essayist, Novelist
It is the mark of a superior man that, left to himself, he is able endlessly to amuse, interest and entertain himself out of his personal stock of meditations, ideas, criticisms, memories, philosophy, humor and what not.
—George Jean Nathan (1882–1958) American Drama Critic, Editor
Solitude has a healing consoler, friend, companion: it is work.
—Berthold Auerbach (1812–82) German Jewish Poet, Novelist
Solitude is painful when one is young, but delightful when one is more mature.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
A large, still book is a piece of quietness, succulent and nourishing in a noisy world, which I approach and imbibe with “a sort of greedy enjoyment,” as Marcel Proust said of those rooms of his old home whose air was “saturated with the bouquet of silence”.
—Holbrook Jackson (1874–1948) British Journalist, Writer, Publisher
The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
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
The secret of solitude is that there is no solitude.
—Joseph Cook
Solitude is the playfield of Satan.
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-born American Novelist
Talents are best nurtured in solitude; character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
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
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
The thoughtful soul to solitude retires.
—Omar Khayyam (1048–1123) Persian Mathematician
I restore myself when I’m alone.
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–62) American Actor, Model, Singer
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
If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary, be not idle.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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
No matter how reclusive we tend to be, we picture the after-life as a community of souls. It is one thing to seek privacy in this life; it is another to face eternity alone.
—Robert Brault
We’re all of us sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life!
—Tennessee Williams (1911–83) American Playwright
A solitude is the audience-chamber of God.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
Solitude, though it may be silent as light, is like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man. All men come into this world alone; all leave it alone.
—Thomas de Quincey (1785–1859) English Essayist, Writer, Author, Scholar
Solitude is the place of purification.
—Martin Buber (1878–1965) Austrian Jewish Theologian, Philosopher, Novelist
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 (1922–2002) American TV Personality, Playwright, Educator, Writer
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
Solitude is the salt of personhood. It brings out the authentic flavor of every experience.
—May Sarton (1912–95) American Children’s Books Writer, Poet, Novelist
The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
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
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
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
Oh, for the simple life,/For tents and starry skies!
—Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) British Humorist, Novelist, Writer
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
You will not find a soulmate in the quiet of your room. You must go to a noisy place and look in the quiet corners.
—Robert Brault
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 (1780–1832) English Angelic Priest, Writer, Collector
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 Essayist, Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Philosopher
I owe my solitude to other people.
—Alan Watts (1915–73) British Buddhist Philosopher, Writer, Speaker
Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.
—May Sarton (1912–95) American Children’s Books Writer, Poet, 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
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
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
It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
In solitude, where we are least alone.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
One can acquire everything in solitude but character.
—Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle) (1783–1842) French Writer
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, Botanist, Writer, Engineer
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
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
Get away from the crowd when you can. Keep yourself to yourself, if only for a few hours daily.
—Arthur Brisbane (1864–1936) American Journalist, Editor
The higher we rise, the more isolated we become; all elevations are cold.
—Stanislas de Boufflers (1738–1815) French Political leader, Writer
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
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
Reading well is one of the great pleasures that solitude can afford you.
—Harold Bloom (b.1930) American Literary Critic, Cultural Critic, Writer
Man was formed for society and is neither capable of living alone, nor has the courage to do it.
—William Blackstone (1723–80) English Judge, Jurist, Academic
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
The strong man is strongest when alone.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
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, Editor, Writer, Teacher
Solitude: a sweet absence of looks.
—Milan Kundera (b.1929) Czech Novelist