Quotes About Solitude

You asked me where I generally lived. In my workshop [i.e. in his study] in the mornings and always in the library in the evening. Books are companions even if you don't open them.

Books are companions even if you don't open them.

What condition of man most deserves pity?" - Franklin offered: "A lonesome man on a rainy day who does not know how to read.

Silence is golden

The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn't know how to read.

Like silence after noise, or cool, clear water on a hot, stuffy day, Emptiness cleans out the messy mind and charges up the batteries of spiritual energy. Many people are afraid of Emptiness, however, because it reminds them of Loneliness.

Benjamin James Sadock

Mais quelle famille solitaire avais-je donc ! J'étais même ébahi que deux de ses membres avaient pu s'assembler pour engendrer les deux suivants. Seulement, des solitaires qui feignent de ne pas l'être... voilà sans doute comment les familles se construisent, et comment la race des gens seuls est devenue si nombreuse.

What solitary people my family were! It amazed me that two of its members had ever gotten together to produce the others. But then solitary people pretending not to be – that must be how families start up, and how the race of the lonely has grown so numerous.

Ein toter Mensch ist wie ein Saal, in dem ein Fest zu Ende gegangen ist. Ein rauschendes Fest. Die Menschen sind alle fort um irgendwo anders weiterzufeiern. Und schau, so ein leerer Saal hat doch was ganz Friedliches. Die Luftschlangen, die Gläser, die Musikinstrumente und die Stille.

They protected themselves until the end and each one of them died a dog's death, as lonely as a star no telescope has discovered and therefore no one ever wants to reach.

kein Rausch mehr, nur noch Rauschen.

I find the answers aren't so clear Wish I could find a way to disappear

The ability to reflect is associated with critical thinking and reasoning ability. And the capacity to be alone is one of the highest levels of development. It's important to know how to self-soothe and be confident of other people's love even when they're not there in front of you.

I think sometimes you need distance to reflect.

Prison gives you time to reflect.

It was night and I could see a large and calm lake, reflecting the moon. Black mountains rose around it. I arrived from between two of these mountains, I looked at the lake and the moon, and that was it, nothing else happened.

New Year's Eve is not about having a big party for me. It's a time of reflection, and I often go on spiritual retreats.

Those reflective moments for me usually come from loneliness and separation from people.

How can one take delight in the world unless one flees to it for refuge?

I take refuge in my books.

It's going to seem idiotic to say this, but I think that at a given moment we all need a place to ourselves where we can refuge ourselves and cut ourselves off from the world.

I regard bed as my best friend.

I like to live in my own mind, regardless of everyone and everything, working out the intimate puzzles that are my stories and novels.