Quotes About Solitude

You can't live with literary characters no matter how much you might like to. You can have them as imaginary friends that you can call up when you need to. One of the tasks of art is to provide people with companions.

Han lutade sig mot relingen, gav sin tribut till evigheten och spottade i havet.

Henning Mankell

That is about as close as one can get to the greatest loneliness of all, he thought. Being all alone in the world. The final human being, forgotten about.

Forse diventare adulto significa rendersi conto della propria solitudine

Le gusta esa idea. Es una idea que nunca compartirá con nadie. Es una idea que hace que él sea él y no otro.

There is a silence in empty houses that is unique... People have left and taken all the noise with them.

I'm too old for talks. I gave that up when I turned sixty. I'd done enough talking in my life by then. Nowadays I neither speak nor listen to what anybody else has to say.

Era sfinito, eppure non sentiva alcun desiderio di andare a casa. Ogni sera era la stessa cosa. Tornare a casa significava affrontare un oceano di solitudine.

call. I spent the next few hours playing poker with myself. It's the saddest expression of loneliness I know. I never feel more overwhelmed by weariness and unhappiness than when I'm trying to win money off myself. There is no deeper form of isolation.

in the end it comes down to a who and a why. Only one who. And one lone why.

solitude begins with a time and a place for God, and God alone. If we really believe not only that God exists but also that God is actively present in our lives-- healing, teaching and guiding-- we need to set aside a time and space to give God our undivided attention. (Matt 6:6)

In solitude we realize that nothing human is alien to us.

But human withdrawal is a very painful and lonely process, because it forces us to face directly our own condition in all its beauty as well as misery.

In solitude I get rid of my scaffolding... Solitude molds self-righteous people into gentle, caring, forgiving persons who are so deeply convinced of their own great sinfulness and so fully aware of God's even greater mercy that their life itself becomes ministry.

Loneliness is painful; Solitude is peaceful. Loneliness makes us cling to others in desperation; solitude allows us to respect others in their uniqueness and create community...

I have found over and over again how hard it is to be truly faithful to Jesus when I am alone.

The measure of your solitude is the measure of your capacity for communion.

If I were to ask about my seven months at the Abbey, Did it work, did I solve my problems? the simple answer would be, It did not work, it did not solve my problems. And I know that a year, two years, or even a lifetime as a Trappist monk would not have worked either. Because a monastery is not built to solve problems but to praise the Lord in the midst of them.

When we are alone with God, the Spirit prays in us. The challenge is to develop a simple discipline or spiritual practice to embrace some empty time and empty space every day.

Silence is the discipline that helps us to go beyond the entertainment quality of our lives.

Your way of being present to your community may require times of absence, prayer, writing, or solitude. These too are times for your community.

Our primary task in solitude, therefore, is not to pay undue attention to the many faces which assail us, but to keep the eyes of our mind and heart on him who is our divine savior.

Solitude is very different from a 'time-out' from our busy lives. Solitude is the very ground from which community grows. Whenever we pray alone, study, read, write, or simply spend quiet time away from the places where we interact with each other directly, we are potentially opened for a deeper intimacy with each other.