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Solitary Quotes

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Solitary Quotes

“There are some solitary wretches who seem to have left the rest of mankind, only, as Eve left Adam, to meet the devil in private.”

Seems Left Mankind Loneliness Solitude Devil Adam Solitary

Book:A Supplementary Volume to the Works of Alexander Pope, Esq: Containing Pieces of Poetry, Not Inserted in Warburton's and Warton's Editions : and a Collection of Letters, Now First Published

Source: A Supplementary Volume to the Works of Alexander Pope, Esq: Containing Pieces of Poetry, Not Inserted in Warburton's and Warton's Editions : and a Collection of Letters, Now First Published

“We are, first of all, not solitary creatures and second of all, we are deeply embedded in the lives of others. It's very easy to forget that and to engage in an atomistic fallacy - where we think that all we have to do is study the individual components of a system in order to understand the system. That's clearly not the case when it comes to social systems.”

Thinking Firsts Humanity Order Individual Social Easy Forget Cases Study Creatures Solitary Components Fallacy Embedded Lives Of Others Social Systems

Author:Nicholas A. Christakis

“"The Universe repeats itself, with the possible exception of history." Of all earthly studies history is the only one that does not repeat itself. ... Astronomy repeats itself; botany repeats itself; trigonometry repeats itself; mechanics repeats itself; compound long division repeats itself. Every sum if worked out in the same way at any time will bring out the same answer. ... A great many moderns say that history is a science; if so it occupies a solitary and splendid elevation among the sciences; it is the only science the conclusions of which are always wrong.”

“The most dramatic conflicts are perhaps, those that take place not between men but between a man and himself - where the arena of conflict is a solitary mind.”

Men Mind Conflict Dramatic Solitary Arena

Author:Clark Moustakas

“If there were some solitary or feral man, the passions of the soul would be sufficient for him; by them he would be conformed to things in order that he might have knowledge of them. But because man is naturally political and social, there is need for one man to make his conceptions known to others, which is done with speech. So significant speech was needed if men were to live together. Which is why those of different tongues do not easily live together.”

Ifs Men Needs Different Soul Done Might Would Be Together Political Order Passion Social Known Communication Needed Speech Tongue Significant Sufficient One Man Conception Solitary

Author:Thomas Aquinas

“There are so many different elements to surfing. Small waves, big waves, long boards, short boards. This makes it a sport you can share with people. It's not just a solitary thing - it's become a family thing, too. It's about exercising and passing something on from father to son, and from mother to daughter.”

People Long Different Bigs Mother Father Sports Share Son Exercise Elements Daughter Wave Passing Passings Boards Solitary Surfing Father Son Mother Daughter

Author:Kelly Slater

“Know for a certainty that if men understood how terrible is even one solitary sin, they would rather be cast into a heated furnace, and there remain, living both in soul and body, than to support such a sight. And if the sea were all fire they would cast themselves therein and never leave it, if they were certain of meeting the sin on doing so.”

Ifs Knows Men Soul Body Certain Suffering Sin Support Fire Sea Terrible Understood Sight Meetings Casts Certainty Solitary Furnaces Soul And Body

Author:Catherine of Genoa

“In the last stage of the spiritual master's life, the devotees of the spiritual master should take preaching activities into their own hands. In this way the spiritual master can sit down in a solitary place and render nirjana-bhajana.”

Way Should Hands Lasts Spiritual Stage Masters Activity Solitary Preaching Devotee Spiritual Masters

Author:A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

“Serious or trivial, his daily behavior has instituted a canon which millions observe this day with conscious memory. No one regarded by any section of the human race as Perfect Man has ever been imitated so minutely.The conduct of the founder of Christianity has not governed the ordinary life of his followers. Moreover, no founder of a religion has left on so solitary an eminence as the Muslim apostle.”

“In this country, don't forget, a habit is no damn private hell. There's no solitary confinement outside of jail. A habit is hell for those you love. And in this country it's the worst kind of hell for those who love you.”

Kind Country Forget Hell Worst Love You Habit Addiction Recovery Damn Jail Solitary Confinement Those You Love Solitary Confinement

Book:Lady Sings the Blues: The 50th-Anniversay Edition with a Revised Discography

Source: Lady Sings the Blues: The 50th-Anniversay Edition with a Revised Discography

“There is something about the water - that solitary kind of peaceful feeling. You're on earth but not quite.”

Love Kind Feelings Earth Peace Water Peaceful Solitary

Author:John C. Reilly

“Adversity is solitary, while prosperity dwells in a crowd”

Success Adversity Prosperity Crowds Solitary

Author:Margaret of Valois

“It is true that many creative people fail to make mature personal relationships, and some are extremely isolated. It is also true that, in some instances, trauma, in the shape of early separation or bereavement, has steered the potentially creative person toward developing aspects of his personality which can find fulfillment in comparative isolation. But this does not mean that solitary, creative pursuits are themselves pathological.”

Source: Solitude: A Return to the Self

“Every writer must acknowledge and be able to handle the unalterable fact that he has, in effect, given himself a life sentence in solitary confinement. The ordinary world of work is closed to him - and that if he's lucky!”

Ifs World Writing Facts Able Given Effects Lucky Ordinary Sentences Handle Acknowledge Solitary Confinement Solitary Confinement Ordinary World

Author:Peter Straub

“Imaginative writing has always been a solitary and indeed a somewhat antisocial activity. Apprenticeship existed, no doubt, but it was an apprenticeship to books and not to living masters of the craft.”

Writing Book Doubt Masters Activity Crafts No Doubt Solitary Imaginative Apprenticeship Antisocial

Author:Madison Smartt Bell

“Writing fiction is a solitary occupation but not really a lonely one. The writer's head is mobbed with characters, images and language.”

Writing Character Language Fiction Lonely Occupation Solitary Writing Fiction

Author:Hilma Wolitzer

“It's strange when they near your cell. You lose all your strength, and you are like this. You lose all your strength as if a rope is dragging it out of you. Then the footsteps stop in front of another solitary confinement cell, and when you hear the sound of the key turning you feel relieved.”

Ifs Feels Sound Loses Fronts Strange Keys Cells Solitary Rope Death Penalty Footsteps Relieved Confinement Solitary Confinement

Author:Sakae Menda

“Those who surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ, will live like the grains of wheat that dies. It only apparently dies. If it were not to die, it would remain a solitary grain. The harvest comes because of the grain that dies. We know that every effort to improve society, above all when society is so full of injustice and sin, is an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands of us.”

Ifs Knows Want Dies Christ Sin Poor Effort Demand Injustice Surrender Bless Catholicism Grain Solitary Harvest Wheat God Bless

Author:Oscar Romero

“One solitary God-centered, God-intoxicated man can do more to keep God's love alive and His presence felt in the world than a thousand half-hearted, talkative busy men living frightened, fragmented lives of quiet desperation.”

“There are days when solitude, for someone my age, 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.”

Stills Wall Solitude Beats Wine Bitter Poison Solitary Being Alone Seclusion

Author:Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

“Every one of the aristocratic conspirators and would-be murderers claims to be an arch-patriot; every one of them insists that the war is being waged to make the world safe for democracy. What humbug! What rot! What false pretense! These... tyrants, these red-handed robbers and murderers, the "patriots," while the men who have the courage to stand face to face with them, speak the truth, and fight for their exploited victims - they are [called] the disloyalists and traitors. If this be true, I want to take my place side by side with the traitors in this fight.”

“When I think of this life I have led; the desolation of solitude it has been; the masoned, walled-town of a Captain's exclusiveness, which admits but small entrance to any sympathy from the green country without - oh, weariness! heaviness! Guinea-coast slavery of solitary command!”

Thinking Life Has Beens Country Solitude Towns Slavery Green Command This Life Solitary Captains Coast Entrances Weariness Desolation Guinea Heaviness

Author:Herman Melville

“A song that sounds simple is just not that easy to write. One of the objectives of this record was to try and write melodies that continue to resonate...Everything that happens to you influences your writing...The writing process for me is pretty much always the same-it's a solitary experience...I have yet to write that one song that defines my career...Beck said he didn't believe in the theory of a song coming through you as if you were an open vessel. I agree with him to a certain extent.”

Ifs Writing Trying Believe Said Happens Certain Song Easy Process Sound Simple Careers Records Influence Theory Agree Objectives Melody Songwriting Solitary Writing Process Vessel

Author:Sheryl Crow

“Poetry is a solitary process. One does not write poetry for the masses. Poetry is a self-involved, lofty pursuit. Songs are for the people. When I'm writing a song, I imagine performing it. I imagine giving it. It's a different aspect of communication. It's for the people.”

People Giving Writing Doe Different Self Song Process Imagine Communication Involved Mass Aspect Pursuit Performing Poetry Is Songwriting Solitary Lofty

Author:Patti Smith

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

Done Facts Loneliness Personality Ease Solitary Introvert Being Alone Loner Stand Alone Owing Loneliness And Solitude Standing Alone

Author:Marilynne Robinson

“Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being.”

Men Social Solitary Social Being

Book:Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words

Source: Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words

“The worth of a life is not determined by a single failure or a solitary success.”

Life Is Determined Solitary

Author:Kevin Kline

“Theyre not group animals, theyre completely solitary, so if the babys mother is taken away, theres no system of aunts ... their whole system is destroyed.”

Ifs Whole Mother Animal Taken Groups Destroyed Solitary Aunt

Author:Joanna Lumley

“I suppose directing on set is the most fun because it's a good crack and you feel you're on the battlefield whereas writing is a fairly solitary undertaking.”

Feels Writing Fun Cracks Solitary Battlefields Undertakings

Author:Guy Ritchie

“Editing is kind of a solitary job.”

Kind Jobs Solitary Editing

Author:Joe Dante

“The crowd is the gathering place of the weakest; true creation is a solitary act.”

Creation Crowds Solitary Gathering Gathering Places

Book:Sunlight Here I Am: Interviews and Encounters, 1963-1993

Source: Sunlight Here I Am: Interviews and Encounters, 1963-1993

“Because I have become such a solitary, and not in the Aristotelian sense: not a beast, not a god. Rather, a loner troubled by longings, incapable of finding a suitable language and despairing at the impossibility of composing messages in a playable key--as if I no longer understood the codes used by the estimable people who wanted to hear from me and would have so much to reply if only the impediments were taken away.”

People Ifs Wanted Used Language Taken Keys Findings Messages Understood Longing Code Beast Solitary Incapable Impossibility Suitable Loner Composing Impediments

Book:Saul Bellow: Letters

Source: Saul Bellow: Letters

“The greatest threat to mankind comes from the renunciation of individual scruple in favor of institutional denominators. . . . Real heroism lies, as it always will, not in conformity or even patriotism, but in acts of solitary moral courage. Which, come to think of it, is what we used to admire in our Christian savior”

Thinking Real Christian Used Lying Individual Moral Mankind Threat Favors Admire Conformity Savior Heroism Solitary Renunciation Moral Courage Scruples

Author:John le Carre

“I worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week for years. Being a comic book artist is like sentencing yourself to life imprisonment at hard labor in solitary confinement. I don't think I'd do it again.”

Thinking Years Book Hard Artist Hours Week Labor Seven Comic Solitary Comic Book Imprisonment Confinement Seven Days Solitary Confinement

Author:Wally Wood

“Charles Darwin [is my personal favorite Fellow of the Royal Society]. I suppose as a physical scientist I ought to have chosen Newton. He would have won hands down in an IQ test, but if you ask who was the most attractive personality then Darwin is the one you'd wish to meet. Newton was solitary and reclusive, even vain and vindictive in his later years when he was president of the society.”

Ifs Years Hands Asks Wish President Personality Ought Tests Scientist Fellows Chosen Vain Attractive Solitary Royal Newton Vindictive

Author:Martin Rees

“The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups. A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.”

Humanity Found Inspiring Principles Virtue Wise Groups Buddhism Buddhist Breasts Solitary Muse

Author:Gautama Buddha

“Peter, in showing that the Church is one and that only those who are in the Church can be saved, said: "In the Ark of Noah certain persons, numbering only eight, were saved by water, which Baptism effects in like manner for you" (1 Peter 3:20). He proves and demonstrates that the solitary Ark of Noah was the figure of the One Church. If, at the time of this Baptism of the world anyone could have been saved without having been in the Ark of Noah, then he who is outside the Church could now be brought to life by Baptism.”

Ifs World Persons Has Beens Said Certain Water Church Effects Figures Prove Eight Saved Peter Solitary Sacraments Could Have Been Baptism Ark

Author:Cyprian

“If a traveller does not meet with one who is his better, or his equal, let him firmly keep to his solitary journey; there is no companionship with a fool.”

Ifs Doe Journey Fool Equal Solitary Companionship Traveller

Book:The Dhammapada

Source: The Dhammapada

“He moves not through distance, but through the ranges of satisfaction that come from hauling himself up into the air with complete and utter control; from knowing himself and knowing his airplane so well that he can come somewhere close to touching, in his own special and solitary way, that thing that is called perfection.”

Way Wells Moving Knowing Air Special Perfection Distance Satisfaction Range Aviation Touching Airplane Solitary Great Aviation

Book:A Gift of Wings

Source: A Gift of Wings

“The power of a book lies in its power to turn a solitary act into a shared vision. As long as we have books, we are not alone.”

Long Book Lying Turns Vision Solitary Not Alone Shared Vision

Author:Laura Bush

“A thousand people drowned in floods in China are news: a solitary child drowned in a pond is tragedy.”

People Children Thousand News Tragedy China Solitary Flood Ponds

Book:The Daughter of Time

Source: The Daughter of Time

“In tennis you're on an island. Of all the games men and women play, tennis is the closest to solitary confinement.”

Men Play Games Men And Women Islands Tennis Solitary Closest Confinement Solitary Confinement

Book:The Whirl

Source: The Whirl

“Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path…This Easter week and always, may we stand by Jesus Christ ‘at all times and in all things, and in all places that (we) may be in, even until death,’ for surely that is how He stood by us when it was unto death and when He had to stand entirely and utterly alone.”

“A cigar numbs sorrow and fills the solitary hours with a million gracious images.”

Hours Millions Sorrow Solitary Gracious Cigar

Author:George Sand

“Without the book business it would be difficult or impossible for true books to find their true readers and without that solitary (and potentially subversive) alone with a book the whole razzmatazz of prizes, banquets, television spectaculars, bestseller lists, even literature courses, editors and authors, are all worthless. Unless a book finds lovers among those solitary readers, it will not live . . . or live for long.”

Long Book Whole Would Be Courses Literature Difficult Impossible Television Reader Lovers Lists Prize Editors Solitary Worthless Finding Love Subversive Banquets

Author:John McGahern

“To me the Universe was all void of Life, of Purpose, of Volition, even of Hostility; it was one huge, dead, immeasurable Steam-engine, rolling on, in its dead indifference, to grind me limb from limb. Oh vast gloomy, solitary Golgotha, and Mill of Death! Why was the living banished thither companionless, conscious? Why, if there is no Devil; nay, unless the Devil is your God?”

Source: Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdrockh: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition

“When we haven't the time to listen to each other's stories we seek out experts to tell us how to live. The less time we spend together at the kitchen table, the more how-to books appear in the stores and on our bookshelves. But reading such books is a very different thing than listening to someone' s lived experience. Because we have stopped listening to each other we may even have forgotten how to listen, stopped learning how to recognize meaning and fill ourselves from the ordinary events of our lives. We have become solitary; readers and watchers rather than sharers and participants.”

Source: Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal, 10th Anniversary Edition

“Perhaps it was Maggie, perhaps not. In solitary moments magpies will perch on a branch and mutter soft soliloquies of whines and squeals and chatterings, oblivious to what goes on around them. It is one of those things, I suppose, intelligence now and then does, must in fact now and then do, must think, must play, must imagine, must talk to itself. ... What, finally, intelligence could be for: finding your way back.”

Thinking Way Doe Play Moments Facts Imagine Goes On Findings Bird Branches Now And Then Solitary Oblivious Maggie Finding Your Way Magpies

Book:A Garlic Testament: Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm

Source: A Garlic Testament: Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm

“What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast inner solitude. To walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours-that is what you must be able to attain. To be solitary as you were when you were a child.”

Children Able Hours Walks Solitude Solitary

Author:Rainer Maria Rilke

“I write in praise of the solitary act: of not feeling a trespassing tongue forced into one's mouth, one's breath smothered, nipples crushed against the ribcage, and that metallic tingling in the chin set off by a certain odd nerve: unpleasure.”

Writing Feelings Certain Solitude Mouths Praise Breaths Tongue Odd Nerves Solitary Crushed Chins Nipples Metallic Trespassing

Book:Poems 1960-2000

Source: Poems 1960-2000