380 Solitude Quotes That Will Make You Feel Powerful

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong. Winston Churchill

A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy? Albert Einstein

Sometimes the solitary voice can be the best one. Frank Miller

Without great solitude, no serious work is possible. Pablo Picasso

It’s your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. Rumi

One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

By all means use sometimes to be alone. Salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear. George Herbert

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. Marcus Aurelius

I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. Henry David Thoreau

The best thinking has been done in solitude. Thomas A. Edison

The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude. Voltaire

Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self. May Sarton

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

Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living. Albert Einstein

Solitude helps you find peace. Peace helps you find happiness. Maxime Lagacé

See also: introvert quotes, loneliness quotes, simplicity quotes

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The Best Solitude Quotes

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A little while alone in your room will prove more valuable than anything else that could ever be given you. Rumi

Solitude, in these days as much as ever, is an absolute necessity. Leo Babauta

Solitude is un-American. Erica Jong

In stillness lives wisdom. In quiet you’ll find peace. In solitude you’ll remember yourself. Robin Sharma

Once you know how to take care of yourself, company becomes an option. Keenu Reeves

All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone. Blaise Pascal

Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

You are born alone. You die alone. The value of the space in between is trust and love. Louise Bourgeois

Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius. Edward Gibbon

I myself am best when least in company. William Shakespeare Click to tweet

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. Buddha Click to tweet

I was a man who thrived on solitude; without it I was like another man without food or water. Each day without solitude weakened me. I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it. The darkness of the room was like sunlight to me. Charles Bukowski

Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone. Paul Tillich

I lived in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in maturity. Albert Einstein

A well-ordered mind is at home with solitude. @TheStoicEmperor

Not being comfortable alone means you must spend more time alone. Maxime Lagacé

A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live. Bertrand Russell

The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude. Aldous Huxley

In proportion as a person simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude. Henry David Thoreau

The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. Nikola Tesla Click to tweet

The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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. Franz Kakfa

In the temple of his spirit, each man is alone. Ayn Rand

I am never less alone than when alone. Cicero

What Is Solitude?

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Solitude is where one discovers one is not alone. Marty Rubin Click to tweet

Solitude is a lost art in these days of ultra-connectedness. Leo Babauta

Solitude is the attribute of the strong. The weak is always found in the crowd. Unknown

Solitude is not the absence of company, but the moment when our soul is free to speak to us and help us decide what to do with our life. Paulo Coelho

Solitude is like punctuation. A paragraph without periods and commas would be exhausting to read. Arnie Kozak

Solitude isn’t loneliness. Solitude is when the entire serene universe seems to surround and hold you quietly. Victoria Erickson

Solitude is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it. Deepak Chopra

Solitude is the place of purification. Martin Buber

Part 2. Solitude Quotes That Are…

The Most Famous Solitude Quotes (Einstein, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, etc.)

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Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. Albert Einstein Click to tweet

Society is no comfort, to one not sociable. William Shakespeare

Loneliness is to be avoided, solitude is to be sought. Tom Hanks

It’s an interesting combination: Having a great fear of being alone, and having a desperate need for solitude and the solitary experience. That’s always been a tug of war for me. Jodie Foster

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. Maya Angelou

We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. Henry David Thoreau (Solitude, Walden)

I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. Henry David Thoreau

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

That is why I go into solitude so as not to drink out of everybody’s cistern. When I am among the many I live as the many do, and I do not think as I really think; after a time it always seems as though they want to banish me from myself and rob me of my soul and I grow angry with everybody and fear everybody. Friedrich Nietzsche

My solitude doesn’t depend on the presence or absence of people; on the contrary, I hate who steals my solitude without, in exchange, offering me true company. Friedrich Nietzsche

Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Ernest Hemingway

It’s easy to stand in the crowd but it takes courage to stand alone. Mahatma Gandhi

My passionate interest in social justice and social responsibility has always stood in curious contrast to a marked lack of desire for direct association with men and women. Albert Einstein

Solitude is dangerous. It’s very addictive. It becomes a habit after you realise how peaceful and calm it is. It’s like you don’t want to deal with people anymore because they drain your energy. Jim Carrey

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. Aristotle Click to tweet

Wherever you may seek solitude, men will ferret you out and compel you to belong to their desperate company of oddfellows. Henry David Thoreau

It would do the world good if every person would compel himself to often be alone. Most of the world’s progress has come from such. Deepak Chopra

I chide society, I embrace solitude, and yet I am not so ungrateful as not to see the wise, the lovely and the noble-minded, as from time to time they pass my gate. Ralph Waldo Emerson

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples. Mother Teresa

This great misfortune – to be incapable of solitude. Jean de la Bruyere

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Short Solitude Quotes

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One-liners, short solitude quotes, thoughts and captions for your bio, social status, self-talk, motto, mantra, signs, posters, wallpapers, backgrounds.

He who understands humanity seeks solitude. Ali ibn Abi Talib Click to tweet

Solitude is a kind of freedom. Umberto Eco

Fire is a good companion for the mind. May Sarton

The more you enjoy solitude, the simpler life becomes. Maxime Lagacé

Be alone and be happy with yourself. Leo Babauta (See also: the lost art of solitude)

Solitude terrifies the soul at twenty. Molière

Solitude appeared to me as the only fit state of man. Walter Benjamin

I’m not anti-social. I’m pro-solitude. Unknown

It is better to be alone than in bad company. Unknown

Solitude sometimes is best society. John Milton

In solitude I find my answers. Kristen Butler Click to tweet

Some of us are born to a solitary life. Philippa Gregory

Solitude vivifies; isolation kills. Joseph Roux

In solitude the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself. Laurence Sterne

Religion is what an individual does with his solitariness. Alfred North Whitehead

I owe my solitude to other people. Alan Watts

To find yourself, think for yourself. Socrates

The thoughtful soul to solitude retires. Omar Khayyam

Never be afraid to sit awhile and think. Lorraine Hansberry

You only grow when you are alone. Paul Newman

Disappear. Then, come back even better. Ree Johnson

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Inspirational Solitude Quotes

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They who do not fear darkness have learned to light their own candle. Dodinsky Click to tweet

If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities. Maya Angelou

One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful. Sigmund Freud

Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Nikola Tesla

Make the time to be alone. Your best ideas live within solitude. Robin Sharma

There’s staggering power in leaving the world and heading out into some solitude for at least and hour every day. Robin Sharma

He is greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own. Henry Ward Beecher

Closed in a room, my imagination becomes the universe, and the rest of the world is missing out. Criss Jami

Be so relaxed that nothing and nobody can affect you. You’re above that. Maxime Lagacé

We must become so alone, so utterly alone, that we withdraw into our innermost self. It is a way of bitter suffering. But then our solitude is overcome, we are no longer alone, for we find that our innermost self is the spirit, that it is God, the indivisible. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of the world, yet undisturbed by its multiplicity, for our innermost soul we know ourselves to be one with all being. Hermann Hesse

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life. Ralph Waldo Emerson

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own. Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is much better to walk alone, in the right direction, than to follow the herd, walking in the wrong direction. Lone Wolf Quotes

Let others worry about being socially acceptable; those types are a dime a dozen, and you are after a power greater than they can imagine. Robert Greene

True solitude is found in the wild places, where one is without human obligation. One’s inner voices become audible… In consequence, one responds more clearly to other lives. Wendell Berry

You think that I am impoverishing myself withdrawing from men, but in my solitude I have woven for myself a silken web or chrysalis, and, nymph-like, shall ere long burst forth a more perfect creature, fitted for a higher society. Henry David Thoreau

We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be. May Sarton Click to tweet

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

Solitude is the place of purification and transformation, the place of the great struggle and the great encounter. Henri Nouwen

We live in a very tense society. We are pulled apart… and we all need to learn how to pull ourselves together… I think that at least part of the answer lies in solitude. Helen Hayes

Talent is nurtured in solitude… A creation of importance can only be produced when its author isolates himself, it is a child of solitude. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

In the solitude of your dreams grows the flame that will bring the light to this world. Unknown

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself. Michel de Montaigne

Sometimes, the most profound of awakenings come wrapped in the quietest of moments. Stephen Crane

See also: positive quotes

See also: Einstein’s most effective life hack wasn’t about productivity

Funny Solitude Quotes (Some Will Surprise You)

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The beaten path is the safest, but the traffic’s terrible. Jeff Taylor Click to tweet

Solitude is the soul’s holiday. Katrina Kenison

A bore is someone who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company. Oscar Wilde

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

A writer takes earnest measures to secure his solitude and then finds endless ways to squander it. Don DeLillo

I know what men want. Men want to be really, really close to someone who will leave them alone. Elayne Boosler

Leave me alone, I’m trying to build! Don’t you know how people build? By concentrating! 5 years old building Lego (Twitter source)

When they are alone they want to be with others, and when they are with others they want to be alone. After all, human beings are like that. Gertrude Stein

You don’t need to be a monk to find solitude, nor do you need to be a hermit to enjoy it. Leo Babauta

I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone. Rainer Maria Rilke

I’ve never been lonely. I like myself. I’m the best form of entertainment I have. Charles Bukowski

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Deep, Meaningful And Emotional Solitude Quotes

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In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion. Albert Camus Click to tweet

Life is an island in an ocean of solitude and seclusion. Kahlil Gibran (Check out the rest of this profound quote here)

Solitude is fine but you need someone to tell that solitude is fine. Honore de Balzac

People who grow bored in their own company seem to me in danger. Andrei Tarkovsky

Spend some time alone. There’s so much you don’t know about yourself. Thibaut

It is the barren silence of winter that makes the birdsong and blossoms of spring so enchanting. @TheStoicEmperor

Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be? Charles Bukowski

You need the rain to appreciate the sun, darkness to appreciate light, people to appreciate solitude. Maxime Lagacé

They simply never understand, do they, that sometimes solitude is one of the most beautiful things on earth? Charles Bukowski

Although the wish for solitude can be a denial of dependence, a capacity for solitude may be its fullest acknowledgment. Adam Phillips

Our perpetually networked selves cling to constant communication in an effort to avoid the deep-seated sense of loneliness we so dread. Maria Popova

The man who is isolated, who is unable to share in the benefits of political association, or has no need to share because he is already self-sufficient, is no part of the polis, and must therefore be either a beast or a god. Aristotle

We think we are unique, special and deserving of happiness, but we are terrified of being alone. Sara Maitland

One of the best gifts we can give ourselves is time alone with God. Joyce Meyer

If you can’t stand solitude, maybe you bore others too. Unknown

Men fear silence as they fear solitude, because both give them a glimpse of the terror of life’s nothingness. Andre Maurois

We are all sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life. Tennessee Williams

Man loves company even if it is only that of a small burning candle. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Don’t fear solitude: If you are never alone, you cannot know yourself. But don’t get too attached to it – it may become an addiction. Paulo Coelho

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others & the world remains & is immortal. Albert Pike

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

This task is yours and yours alone. Naval Ravikant Click to tweet

I don’t mind being alone. I just don’t want to be part of the crowd. Naval Ravikant

To have passed through life and never experienced solitude is to have never known oneself. To have never known oneself is to have never known anyone. Joseph Krutch

If truth is what you seek, then the examined life will only take you on a long ride to the limits of solitude and leave you by the side of the road with your truth and nothing else. Thomas Ligotti

Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it’s not because they enjoy solitude. It’s because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them. Jodi Picoult

I can tell you that solitude Is not all exaltation, inner space where the soul breathes and work can be done. Solitude exposes the nerve, Raises up ghosts. The past, never at rest, flows through it. May Sarton

If the blissful connection of a counterpart is the apex of all human emotion, why am I so happy so stand alone and feel the breeze? Unknown

Solitude was my only consolation – deep, dark, deathlike solitude. Mary Shelley

A high degree of intellect tends to make a man unsocial. Arthur Schopenhauer

Give solitude a chance. You’ve got nothing to lose. And your life to gain back. Joshua Becker

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See also: How Solitude Can Change Your Brain In Profound Ways

Wise Solitude Quotes (Words Of Wisdom)

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Solitude shows us what should be; society shows us what we are. Robert Cecil Click to tweet

I’ve often been with someone and wished I was alone. I’ve never been alone and wished I was not. Derek Sivers

Solitude is a good place to visit but a poor play to stay. Josh Billings

The secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude. Gabriel García Márquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude)

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

I thought loving solitude was bad until I discovered a whole new world in it. Maxime Lagacé

On being alone: I think it’s a good thing to do; you get to know yourself, and I think that’s the most important thing in the whole world. Robert Paul Smith

As a society moves from scarcity to abundance, the cultural value that is most likely to be underdeveloped is restraint. Michael

Aloneness is obviously not isolation, and it is not uniqueness. To be unique is merely to be exceptional in some way, whereas to be completely alone demands extraordinary sensitivity, intelligence, understanding. Jiddu Krishnamurti

Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe. Lao Tzu

Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The value of solitude – one of its values – is, of course, that there is nothing to cushion against attacks from within, just as there is nothing to help balance at times of particular stress or depression. May Sarton

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

To make the right choices in life, you have to get in touch with your soul. To do to this, you need to experience solitude, which most people are afraid of, because in the silence you hear the truth and know the solutions. Deepak Chopra

We visit others as a matter of social obligation. How long has it been since we have visited with ourselves? Morris Adler

Solitude is different from loneliness, and it doesn’t have to be a lonely kind of thing. Fred Rogers Click to tweet

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. Arthur Schopenhauer

Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone, and the only one who seeks out another. Octavio Paz

Man is nostalgia and a search for communion. Therefore, when he is aware of himself he is aware of his lack of another, that is, of his solitude. Octavio Paz

We need society, and we need solitude also, as we need summer and winter, day and night, exercise and rest. Philip Gilbert Hamerton

No person can achieve significance alone. John C. Maxwell

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Mel Robbins

In solitude one finds only what he carries there with him. Juan Ramon Jimenez

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See also: Seeking Solitude: 17 Ways to Find Time for Yourself

Part 3. Solitude Quotes About…

Quotes About Happiness And Enjoying Solitude

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Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god. Aristotle Click to tweet

The things we experience for ourselves when we are alone are much stronger and much fresher. Eugène Delacroix

Blessed are those who do not fear solitude, who are not afraid of their own company, who are not always desperately looking for something to do, something to amuse themselves with, something to judge. Paulo Coelho

It’s okay if you discover you love being alone. Who says you should not? Maxime Lagacé

There is no place more intimate than the spirit alone: It finds a lovely certainty in the evening and the morning. May Sarton

I simply adore being alone – I find it a consuming thirst – and when that thirst is slaked, then I am happy. May Sarton

Solitude is my element, and the reason is that extreme awareness of other people… precludes awareness of one’s self so that after a while the self no longer knows that it exists. May Sarton

The best things in life happen to you when you’re alone. Agnes Martin

In certain circumstances, being outside, not fitting in, can be a source of satisfaction, even pleasure. Olivia Laing

I need to be alone. I need to ponder my shame and my despair in seclusion; I need the sunshine and the paving stones of the streets without companions, without conversation, face to face with myself, with only the music of my heart for company. Henry Miller

The reason old souls enjoy spending time alone is because they never really are. Unknown

There are days when solitude is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall. Colette

Genuine tranquility of the heart and perfect peace of mind, the highest blessings on earth after health, are to be found only in solitude and, as a permanent disposition, only in the deepest seclusion. Arthur Schopenhauer

Our unhappiness arises from one thing only, that we cannot be comfortably alone in our room. That is why the pleasure of solitude is seen as so incomprehensible. Blaise Pascal

I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least — and it is commonly more than that — sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements. Henry David Thoreau

For it may be said, in general, that every man will love or hate solitude — in other words, his own society — just in proportion as he is worth anything in himself. Arthur Schopenhauer

Reading well is one of the great pleasures that solitude can afford you. Harold Bloom

I am never happier than when I am alone in a foreign city; it is as if I had become invisible. Storm Jameson

I owe everything that I have done to the fact that I am very much at ease being alone. Marilynne Robinson

What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be. Ellen Burstyn Click to tweet

See also: gratitude quotes

Quotes About Loneliness, Feeling Lonely (Some Are Sad)

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Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you. Rumi Click to tweet

Loneliness is difficult to confess; difficult too to categorise. Like depression, a state with which it often intersects, it can run deep in the fabric of a person. Olivia Laing

So afraid one is of loneliness; of seeing to the bottom of the vessel. Virginia Woolf

Too much of a good thing and you become blind about it. To truly appreciate solitude, balance it with un-solitude. Maxime Lagacé

At any moment solitude may put on the face of loneliness. May Sarton

The psychoemotional line between solitude and loneliness can be as thin as a razor’s edge and as lacerating to the soul. Maria Popova

If solitude fertilizes the imagination, loneliness vacuums it of vitality and sands the baseboards of the spirit with the scratchy restlessness of longing — for connection, for communion, for escape. Marie Popova

We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community. Dorothy Day

Loneliness can be conquered only by those who can bear solitude. Paul Tillich

There is only one solitude, and it is vast, heavy, difficult to bear, and almost everyone has hours when he would gladly exchange it for any kind of sociability, however trivial or cheap, for the tiniest outward agreement with the first person who comes along. Rainer Maria Rilke

I think one of the faults of young people today is that they try to come together around events that are noisy, almost aggressive at times. This desire to be together in order to not feel alone is an unfortunate symptom. Andrei Tarkovsky

Think of the blessings that await you, not of the emptiness that drives you to seek constant distraction. Eugène Delacroix

Loneliness might be taking you towards an otherwise unreachable experience of reality. Olivia Laing Click to tweet

We aren’t lonely because we are alone; we are lonely because we have failed in our solitude. Michael Harris

Surrender to the grief, despair, fear, loneliness, or whatever form the suffering takes. Witness it without labeling it mentally. Embrace it. Then see how the miracle of surrender transmutes deep suffering into deep peace. Eckhart Tolle (The Power Of Now)

You’re not alone; you’re not forgotten. God has you in the palm of His hand. Joel Osteen

The loneliest people are the kindest. The saddest people smile the brightest. The most damaged people are the wisest. All because they do not wish to see anyone else suffer the way they do. Unknown

Don’t be afraid of losing people. Be afraid of losing yourself by trying to please everyone around you. Lewis Howes

My need to be alone is balanced against my fear of what will happen when suddenly I enter the huge empty silence if I cannot find support there. May Sarton

Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to you. Carl Jung

We tend to see aloneness as bleak, depressing, scary. But it can be seen as freeing, as an opportunity for growth, an opportunity to get to know yourself. Leo Babauta

The line between isolation and solitude can be a fine one. Emily White

I’m in the right place, wrong time? That’s how I feel everyday. Jack White

You are never alone or helpless. The force that guides the stars guides you too. Shrii Shrii Anandamurti

Whatever you’re going through… you are not alone. Mel Robbins

See also: sad quotes

See also: How to Survive Loneliness – 10 Things I Learned Alone

Solitude Quotes About Life, Independence, Power

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Now I become myself. It’s taken time, many years and places. May Sarton Click to tweet

One can acquire everything in solitude except character. Stendhal

True bravery is doing what is right even when it’s not popular. David Roads

You will find your truly bold and original ideas when you’re calm. The crowd is mostly reactive and emotional. Be proactive and independent. Maxime Lagacé

Only the self-sufficient stand alone – most people follow the crowd and imitate. Bruce Lee

Life comes in clusters, clusters of solitude, then a cluster when there is hardly time to breathe. May Sarton

Solitude is essentially the discovery and acceptance of our uniqueness. Lawrence Freeman

Fix all your attention on your own path, and do not imitate others. Your life is unique, and your karma is yours alone. Taisen Deshimaru

Nourish yourself with grand and austere ideas of beauty that feed the soul. You are always being lured away by foolish distractions. Seek solitude. If your life is well ordered your health will not suffer. Eugène Delacroix

The completely independent man would live in a cabin in the woods—free to come & go as he pleased, but he would have no power. Robert Greene

To achieve something otherworldly. There can be no competing influence. The mind seeks distraction like a mosquito seeks blood. A man with isolationist tendencies carries an enormous advantage. Kapil Gupta

Oh comforting solitude, how favorable thou art to original thought! Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self. Henri Nouwen

Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character. James Russell Lowell

Your inner voice is the voice of divinity. To hear it, we need to be in solitude, even in crowded places. A. R. Rahman

Decisive moment: the one when you will be really alone. And it is perhaps this that makes her hesitate: not the void, but the vastness of the solitude. It’s as well if you are frightened of solitude. It’s a sign that you have come to the moment of your birth. Hélène Cixous

Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound. James Allen

Despite its prevalence, living alone is one of the least discussed and, consequently, most poorly understood issues of our time. Eric Klinenberg

We have come to know, or rather to believe, that boredom is not part of the natural lot of man, but can be avoided by a sufficiently vigorous pursuit of excitement. Bertrand Russell

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. Ralph Waldo Emerson

There’s only one very good life and that’s the life you know you want and you make it yourself. Diana Vreeland

You alone decide what thoughts and beliefs you let into your life. For they will shape whether you feel rich or poor, cursed or blessed. Tony Robbins

Find time each day to be alone, for your mental health, by stealing pockets of time from other areas of your life. Leo Babauta

Solitude is as much an intrinsic desire in man as his gregariousness. Hermits, solitary thinkers, independent spirits, recluses, although often stigmatized in the modern world, are healthy expressions of man’s dialogue with himself. Clark E. Moustakas

Solitude is a way to defend the spirit against the murderous din of our materialism. Thomas Merton

The great omission in American life is solitude; not loneliness, for this is an alienation that thrives most in the midst of crowds, but that zone of time and space, free from the outside pressures, which is the incubator of the spirit. Marya Mannes

One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude. Carl Sandburg Click to tweet

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. Heraclitus

I am alternately very gregarious – very sociable – and then very solitary. Fran Lebowitz

Alone, there’s no need for an itinerary. Walk, and the day arranges itself. Stephanie Rosenbloom

Quotes About Solitude And Love

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In a soulmate we find not company but a completed solitude. Robert Brault Click to tweet

Be there for others, but never leave yourself behind. Dodinsky

It’s enough for me to be sure that you and I exist at this moment. Gabriel García Márquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude)

One minute of reconciliation is worth more than a whole life of friendship! Gabriel García Márquez

Why love if losing hurts so much? We love to know that we are not alone. C.S. Lewis

If you love someone, you are always joined with them – in joy, in absence, in solitude, in strife. Rumi

Despite my need for action, I need calm. Despite my need for love, I need solitude. Maxime Lagacé

Experiment. Live a little. And remember that the fear of absence is the surest sign that absence is direly needed. Michael Harris

The final word is love… To love we must know each other… and we know each other in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone any more. Dorothy Day

Your bad love of yourselves makes solitude a prison to you. But let this be your honor: always to love more than you are loved and never to be second in this. Friedrich Nietzsche

Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape. Bell Hooks

You don’t get together to be alone. Grant Cardone

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another. Thomas Merton

When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is held together by a violent and abusive authority. Thomas Merton

We have to be wholly at peace with the prospect of many years of solitude in order to be appropriately picky; otherwise, we risk loving no longer being single rather more than we love the partner who spared us that fate. Alain de Botton

We’re simply not here to go it alone. Only through relating constructively with others do we self-actualize. Marianne Williamson

Women need real moments of solitude and self-reflection to balance out how much of ourselves we give away. Barbara De Angelis

I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other. Rainer Maria Rilke

Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Kahlil Gibran

We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. Aldous Huxley

Be alone. Eat alone, take yourself on dates, sleep alone. In the midst of this you will learn about yourself. You will grow, you will figure out what inspires you, you will curate your own dreams, your own beliefs, your own stunning clarity, and when you do meet the person who makes your cells dance, you will be sure of it, because you are sure of yourself. Bianca Sparacino

If you love a flower, don’t pick one. If you pick it, it dies and ceases to be what you love. So, if you love a flower, let it be. Osho

Love from one being to another can only be that two solitudes come nearer, recognize and protect and comfort each other. Han Suyin

Time was passing like a hand waving from a train I wanted to be on. I hope you never have to think about anything as much as I think about you. Jonathan Safran Foer

This quiet ongoing solitude of mine is how I say I miss you without admitting it out loud. Beau Taplin

Many people suffer from the fear of finding oneself alone, and so they don’t find themselves at all. Rollo May

Just as love is the divine condition, so solitude is the human condition. And for those who understand the miracle of life, those two states peacefully coexist. Paulo Coelho

Without solitude, love will not stay long by your side. Paulo Coelho

Quotes About Solitude And Friendship

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Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light. Helen Keller Click to tweet

I am a real lone wolf who has never wholeheartedly belonged to the State, to my country, my circle of friends and not even to my family but who, despite all these bonds, has constantly experienced a feeling of strangeness and the need for solitude. Albert Einstein

Friendship brings excitement, connection, fun and memories. Being alone creates calm, inspiration and another kind of connection. Maxime Lagacé

Friendship… is born at the moment when one man says to another “What! You too? I thought that no one but myself”. C.S. Lewis

An affinity for solitude is comparable only to one’s affinity for certain other people. And yet one’s first experience of solitude, like one’s first experience of the other, is fraught with danger. Adam Phillips

Solitude, a rest from responsibilities, and peace of mind, will do you more good than the atmosphere of the studio and the conversations which, generally speaking, are a waste of time. Louise Bourgeois

Collaboration and connecting with others is a beautiful thing, but in the end, creation is done in solitude. Leo Babauta

Solitude does not pull us away from our fellow human beings but instead makes real fellowship possible. Henri Nouwen

Friendship needs no words – it is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness. Dag Hammarskjold

Cultivate solitude and quiet and a few sincere friends, rather than mob merriment, noise and thousands of nodding acquaintances. William Powell

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

People think being alone makes you lonely, but I don’t think that’s true. Being surrounded by the wrong people is the loneliest thing in the world. Unknown

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau

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

It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them. Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say. Thomas Merton

Do not allow yourself to be imprisoned by any affection. Keep your solitude. The day, if it ever comes, when you are given true affection there will be no opposition between interior solitude and friendship, quite the reverse. It is even by this infallible sign that you will recognize it. Simone Weil

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 worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship. Francis Bacon

I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society. Henry David Thoreau Click to tweet

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Solitude Quotes About Being An Introvert

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He who lives in solitude may make his own laws. Publilius Syrus Click to tweet

Solitude is independence. I’m not anti-social. I’m pro-solitude. Beth Buelow

My imagination functions much better when I don’t have to speak to people. Patricia Highsmith

Being solitary isn’t a disease that needs a cure. Natasha Pulley

Being an introvert becomes awesome the day you discover you’re not the only one who truly loves solitude. Maxime Lagacé

For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love. Francis Bacon

For a long time now, every meeting with another human being has been a collision. I feel too much, sense too much, am exhausted by the reverberations after even the simplest conversation. May Sarton (Journal of a Solitude)

It’s okay if every weekend doesn’t lead to big moments and campfires and laughter that carries on for hours and hours. Some weekends might be quiet, still, with plenty of room to contemplate. And in that contemplation room, there is room to grow. Morgan Harper Nichols

Sometimes I get so immersed in my own company, if I unexpectedly run into someone I know, it’s a bit of a shock and takes me a while to adjust. Kazuo Ishiguro

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. Audrey Hepburn

Writing is a tribute to solitude. It is choosing introversion over extroversion, lonely hours/days/weeks/years over fun and sociability. Elif Safak

Say no when you don’t want to do something. Say yes if your instincts are strong, even if everyone around you disagrees. Eve Ensler

Decide whether you want to be liked or admired. Decide if fitting in is more important than finding out what you’re doing here. Eve Ensler

Introverts like being introverts. We are drawn to ideas, we are passionate observers, and for us, solitude is rich and generative. Laurie Helgoe

Orlando naturally loved solitary places, vast views, and to feel himself for ever and ever and ever alone. Virginia Woolf

When the superficial wearies me, it wearies me so much that I need an abyss in order to rest. Antonio Porchia

I like being alone. I have control over my own shit. Horacio Jones

People empty me. I have to get away to refill. Charles Bukowski Click to tweet

Solitude Quotes About Work, Creativity, Writing

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Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born. Nikola Tesla Click to tweet

The crowd is the gathering place of the weakest; true creation is a solitary act. Charles Bukowski

Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself. Franz Kafka

Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company. Lord Byron

One can never be alone enough to write. Susan Sontag

To write your most beautiful piece you’ll need huge blocks of time, dedicated and focused work, passion and most of all, solitude. Maxime Lagacé

Solitude gives birth to the original in us, to beauty unfamiliar and perilous — to poetry. But also, it gives birth to the opposite: to the perverse, the illicit, the absurd. Thomas Mann

Deep understanding requires deep thinking which requires focused time alone, away from the chatter of people online and offline. It requires staying with a single thought for a long time, focusing on it and developing it. In solitude is the genesis of great ideas. @TheAncientSage

The more outside noise you consume, the more your inner voice is suppressed. Silence and solitude foster creativity. @TheAncientSage

Creativity is essentially a lonely art. An even lonelier struggle. To some a blessing. To others a curse. It is in reality the ability to reach inside yourself and drag forth from your very soul an idea. Lou Dorfsman

In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone. Rollo May

The impulse to create begins — often terribly and fearfully — in a tunnel of silence. Every real poem is the breaking of an existing silence. Adrienne Rich

Pursuing originality, the would-be creator works alone. In loneliness one assumes a responsibility for oneself that one cannot fulfill. Wendell Berry

I must work alone. I think that going into society from time to time, or just going out and seeing people, does not do much harm to one’s work and spiritual progress, in spite of what many so-called artists say to the contrary. Eugène Delacroix

I must try to live austerely, as Plato did. How can one keep one’s enthusiasm concentrated on a subject when one is always at the mercy of other people and in constant need of their society? Eugène Delacroix

Block out a few minutes each day to be alone and do nothing at all. Mayo Oshin

We treat with dark suspicion (at best) anyone who uses one of the most clearly established methods of developing that creativity — solitude. Sara Maitland

Masterpieces are not single and solitary births; they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common, of thinking by the body of the people, so that the experience of the mass is behind the single voice. Virginia Woolf

One reason I stay isolated more than the average person is to keep my creativity as fierce as possible. Being the odd one out may have its temporary disadvantages, but more importantly, it has its permanent advantages. Criss Jami

All creative work must be done by shutting out the outside world, sitting down, and creating. Leo Babauta

Alone is hard. Together is better. Simon Sinek

Creativity flourishes in solitude. With quiet, you can hear your thoughts, you can reach deep within yourself, you can focus. Leo Babauta

The best art is created in solitude, for good reason: it’s only when we are alone that we can reach into ourselves and find truth, beauty, soul. Leo Babauta

When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone, and of good cheer–say, traveling in a carriage or walking after a good meal or during the night when I cannot sleep–it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking. Jessamyn West

Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for ’tis better to be alone than in bad company. George Washington

On creative people: His most significant moments are those in which he attains some new insight, or makes some new discovery; and these moments are chiefly, if not invariably, those in which he is alone. Anthony Storr

Learn to build and learn to sell. Building can be programming, engineering, writing, etc – best learned alone. Selling is persuasion, public speaking, psychology, etc – best learned in the field. Naval Ravikant

The more a person limits himself, the more resourceful he becomes. Søren Kierkegaard Click to tweet

Works of art are of an infinite loneliness and with nothing so little to be reached as with criticism. Only love can grasp and hold and be just toward them. Rainer Maria Rilke

The patience of making art is a lonely patience — one that demands the solitude essential for creative work, be it art or science, so widely recognized by creators across time and discipline. Maria Popova

Writing is a lonely occupation at best. Of course there are stimulating and even happy associations with friends and colleagues, but during the actual work of creation the writer cuts himself off from all others and confronts his subject alone. He* moves into a realm where he has never been before — perhaps where no one has ever been. It is a lonely place, even a little frightening.

A writer’s occupation is one of the loneliest in the world, even if the loneliness is only an inner solitude and isolation, for that he must have at times if he is to be truly creative.

Genius-level work gets done away from the office. Solitude births brilliance. So get quiet. And start producing real work versus fake work. Robin Sharma

Creativity breeds amid solitude versus noise. Robin Sharma

See also: creativity quotes

See also: The No. 1 Habit of Highly Creative People

Solitude Quotes About Nature

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Go out and walk. That is the glory of life. Maira Kalman Click to tweet

I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream. Vincent Van Gogh

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods. There is a rapture on the lonely shore. Lord Byron

To go out with the setting sun on an empty beach is to truly embrace your solitude. Jeanne Moreau

All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking. Friedrich Nietzsche

The first teacher is your parents. The second is your friends. The best is nature. Maxime Lagacé

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

Although I have a regular work schedule, I take time to go for long walks on the beach so that I can listen to what is going on inside my head. If my work isn’t going well, I lie down in the middle of a workday and gaze at the ceiling while I listen and visualize what goes on in my imagination. Albert Einstein

The hardest walk you can make, is the walk you make alone, but that is the walk that makes you the strongest. Unknown

There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you… In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself. Ruth Stout

It seemed to be a necessary ritual that he should prepare himself for sleep by meditating under the solemnity of the night sky… a mysterious transaction between the infinity of the soul and the infinity of the universe. Victor Hugo

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 (The Yosemite)

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. Henry David Thoreau

We talk of communing with Nature, but ’tis with ourselves we commune… Nature furnishes the conditions – the solitude – and the soul furnishes the entertainment. John Burroughs

No phone. No pool. No pets. No cigarettes. Ultimate freedom… No longer to be poisoned by civilization, he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become Lost in the Wild. Christopher McCandless (Into The Wild)

What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone in the forest at night. Thomas Merton

An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the stars in the night sky. Marina Abramović

The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Click to tweet

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See also: inner peace quotes

Solitude Quotes About Silence, Tranquility, Boredom, Zen

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We are less bored than our ancestors were, but we are more afraid of boredom. Bertrand Russell Click to tweet

Having the discipline to step back from the noise of the world is essential to staying focused. Mike Erwin

Equip yourself with diligence and your boredom will be silenced. Maxime Lagacé

Solitude brings on creativity. Stillness delivers productivity. And quiet breeds genius. Robin Sharma

Solitude allows you to think. And to get to know who you truly are. With that awareness, you can elevate. Robin Sharma

How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the stake. Let me sit here for ever with bare things, this coffee cup, this knife, this fork, things in themselves, myself being myself. Virginia Woolf

Only in quiet waters things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world. Hans Margolius

Total solitude is needed to pursue a line of thought. A little interruption, and you are lost. The trance is over, the magic gone. You may recover the rudiments of what you were thinking. But that unique excursion into the realm of thought with its rich intricacy is lost forever. The Ancient Sage

A generation that cannot endure boredom will be a generation of little men, of men unduly divorced from the slow processes of nature, of men in whom every vital impulse slowly withers, as though they were cut flowers in a vase. Bertrand Russell

Solitude is independence. It had been my wish and with the years I had attained it. It was cold. Oh, cold enough! But it was also still, wonderfully still and vast like the cold stillness of space in which the stars revolve. Hermann Hesse

It is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts. K.T. Jong

I just feel that there isn’t enough silence, you know, and I’m always asking people if they can just give some silence. Fred Rogers

There is something in the nature of silence which affects me deeply. Why it is I know not; but I do know that I love to be alone at such an hour as this. I love to forget the outward world and hold communion with the beings of the mind. Charles Lanman

An artist has to understand silence. An artist has to create a space for silence to enter his work. Silence is like an island in the middle of a turbulent ocean. Marina Abramović

I got fascinated by silence; by what happens to the human spirit, to identity and personality when the talking stops, when you press the off button, when you venture out into that enormous emptiness. Sara Maitland

In our noisy, busy world, the importance of developing the life skill of solitude, meditation, and quietly being with oneself can not be overstated. Joshua Becker

One problem with our complicated lives these days is that many of us never find time to spend alone, in peace, without being bombarded with noise and information. Leo Babauta

There’s no time for solitude and quiet contemplation, and as a result, we have stress and anxiety and depression and repression. Leo Babauta

The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of room, not try to be or do anything whatever. May Sarton

I am alone in the world, and yet not alone enough to make every hour holy. Rainer Maria Rilke

Can you sit alone in an empty room? Can you enjoy the joy of quiet? Leo Babauta

Listen, watch, learn about yourself. Find contentment. Need nothing more. Leo Babauta Click to tweet

More silence quotes, zen quotes

Part 4. Poems About Solitude

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Poem #1
Alone one is never lonely: the spirit adventures, waking
In a quiet garden, in a cool house, abiding single there;
The spirit adventures in sleep, the sweet thirst-slaking
When only the moon’s reflection touches the wild hair.
May Sarton

Poem #2
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
Lord Byron Click to tweet

Part 5. An Artist’s relation to solitude

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An artist must make time for the long periods of solitude
Solitude is extremely important
Away from home,
Away from the studio,
Away from family,
Away from friends
An artist should stay for long periods of time at waterfalls
An artist should stay for long periods of time at exploding volcanoes
An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at fast-running rivers
An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the horizon where the ocean and sky meet
An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the stars in the night sky.
Marina Abramović

Part 6. Conclusion

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I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me. Hermann Hesse Click to tweet

Call to action: Read 15 Ways to Create an Hour a Day of Extra Time … for Solitude