SOLITUDE QUOTES
quotations about solitude
Figuring out how to remain present in a moment of solitude is crucial ... you'll learn how to truly appreciate having nothing to focus on, even if just for five minutes.
ARIELLE TSCHINKEL
"10 ways spending time alone will make your next relationship", Hello Giggles, July 27, 2017
Solitude, whether endured or embraced, is a necessary gateway to original thought.
JANE HIRSHFIELD
Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry
Sad is to live in solitude
Far from your tranquil altitude
Sad is to know that no one ever can live on a dream
That never can be, will never be
Dreamer awake, wake up and see
FRANK SINATRA
"Triste"
No life can be single ... anyone's solitude is dense with the imagined solitude of others.
GEOFFREY O'BRIEN
introduction, Sleepless Nights
O sacred solitude! divine retreat!
Choice of the prudent! envy of the great,
By thy pure stream, or in thy waving shade,
We court fair wisdom, that celestial maid.
EDWARD YOUNG
Love of Fame
Solitude is to be preserved, not as a luxury but as a necessity: not for "perfection" so much as for simple "survival."
THOMAS MERTON
Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
Wrong solitude vinegars the soul,
right solitude oils it.
JANE HIRSHFIELD
"Vinegar and Oil"
The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.
ALDOUS HUXLEY
Proper Studies
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.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
The Conduct of Life
Even the most obscure hermit in the forest was not utterly alone; he too was enfolded in belonging.
HERMANN HESSE
Siddhartha
In solitude, the soundless dialogue which the soul holds with herself finally becomes audible.
JENNIFER STITT
"Before you can be with others, first learn to be alone", The News Minute, July 12, 2017
You need to know how to be alone in order to know how to be together.
SHERRY TURKLE
"When our smartphones leave us out of touch", USA Today, August 7, 2017
Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.
MAY SARTON
Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing
Solitude becomes a sort of tangible enemy, the more dangerous, because it dwells within the citadel itself.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY
Lodore
There is a society in the deepest solitude.
ISAAC D'ISRAELI
Literary Character of Men of Genius
The spell of these terrible solitudes ... cannot leave any mind untouched, any mind, that is, possessed of the higher imaginative qualities.
ALGERNON BLACKWOOD
"The Wendigo", The Lost Valley and Other Stories
Solitude is quickly becoming a relic of an older world. How rarely we are alone. Our electronic devices keep us occupied and connected. Our lives are crammed, cramped, and congested. Our minds are as crowded as our streets.
ANDREW FIALA
"In today's crowded world, even Yosemite in summer can't provide necessary solitude", Fresno Bee, July 21, 2017
To be an adult is to be alone.
JEAN ROSTAND
Thoughts of a Biologist
Most people have never known solitude.... But there are a few of the other kind who can go back to their rooms anywhere and close the door on the whole world, and feel that they need never emerge.
LOUIS ARAGON
Passengers of Destiny
We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.
C. S. LEWIS
The Weight of Glory