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Solitude Quotes

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Solitude Quotes

“At the approach of danger two voices speak with equal force in the heart of man: one very reasonably tells the man to consider the nature of the danger and the means of avoiding it and the other, even more reasonable, says that it is too painful and harassing to think of the danger... better to turn aside from the painful subject till it has come, and to think of what is pleasant. In solitude a man generally yields to the first voice; in society to the second.”

ThinkingMenFirstsHeartMeanTwoTurnsSpeakForceVoiceSubjectsDangerHe ManSolitudeEqualApproachPainfulPleasantReasonableYieldAvoiding
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“Read as little as possible of literary criticism - such things are either partisan opinions, which have become petrified and meaningless, hardened and empty of life, or else they are just clever word-games, in which one view wins today, and tomorrow the opposite view. Works of art are of an infinite solitude, and no means of approach is so useless as criticism.”

MeanLittlesArtTodayGamesWinningViewsOpinionTomorrowSolitudeApproachCriticismEmptyOppositesInfiniteCleverUselessWorks Of ArtMeaninglessPartisansHardenedLiterary CriticismToday And Tomorrow
Author:Rainer Maria Rilke
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“Religion, therefore, as I now ask you arbitrarily to take it, shall mean for us the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine. Since the relation may be either moral, physical, or ritual, it is evident that out of religion in the sense in which we take it, theologies, philosophies, and ecclesiastical organizations may secondarily grow.”

MenMayMeanPhilosophyFeelingsAsksIndividualGrowsMoralDivineSolitudeOrganizationRelationTheologyRitualEvident
Book:James and Dewey on Belief and Experience
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“It's not 'natural' to speak well, eloquently, in an interesting, articulate way. People living in groups, families, communes say little - have few verbal means. Eloquence - thinking in words - is a byproduct of solitude, deracination, a heightened painful individuality. In groups, it's more natural to sing, to dance, to pray: given, rather than invented (individual) speech.”

PeopleThinkingWayWellsMeanLittlesIndividualSpeakGivenNaturalInterestingGroupsPrayingSolitudeSpeechIndividualityPainfulEloquenceCommunes
Book:As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh: Diaries 1964-1980
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“No person who has not spent a period of his life in those 'stark and sullen solitudes that sentinel the Pole' will understand fully what trees and flowers, sun-flecked turf and running streams mean to the soul of a man”

MenMeanPersonsSoulRunningSunTreeFlowerPeriodsSolitudeStreamsStarksSullenTurfSentinels
Book:The Heart of the Antarctic: Being the Story of the British Antarctic Expedition 1907-1909
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“Although a man may lose a sense of his own importance when he is a mere unit among a busy throng, all utterly regardless of him, it by no means follows that he can dispossess himself, with equal facility, of a very strong sense of the importance and magnitude of his cares.”

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Book:The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby
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“Really living like Christ will not mean reward, social recognition, and an assured income, but difficulties, discrimination, solitude, anxiety. Here, too, the basic experience of the cross applies: the wider we open our hearts to others, the more audibly we intervene against the injustice that rules over us, the more difficult our lives in the rich unjust society will become.”

HeartMeanSocialDifficultChristRichOur LivesSolitudeAnxietyCrossesDifficultyRewardsInjusticeIncomeDiscriminationRecognitionUnjustAssuredReally LivingUnjust Society
Book:Thinking about God: an introduction to theology
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“Poets and beggars, musicians and prophets, warriors and scoundrels, all creatures of that unbridled reality, we have had to ask but little of our imagination, for our crucial problem has been a lack of conventional means to render our lives believable. This, my friends, is the crux of our solitude.”

MeanLittlesHas BeensProblemRealityAsksImaginationOur LivesPoetSolitudeCreaturesMusicianMy FriendsWarriorProphetCrucialConventionalBeggarBelievableScoundrelsCrux
Book:Century of the Wind
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“Anyway, solitary people interest me. There are so many different ways of being solitary.' 'I know just what you mean,' said X. 'I know exactly what you're going to say. Different kinds of solitude. Enforced solitude and voluntary solitude.' 'Quite,' said Viktoria. 'There's no need to go into it further. But when people understand one another without speaking, it can often leave them with very little to talk about, don't you think?”

PeopleThinkingKnowsWayNeedsKindMeanLittlesSaidDifferentInterestSolitudeDifferent WaysDifferent KindsSolitary
Author:Tove Jansson
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“Loneliness and solitude are two different things. When you are lonely, it is easy to delude yourself into believing that you are on the right path. Solitude is better for us, as it means being alone without feeling lonely. But eventually it is best to find a person, the person who will be your mirror. Remember, only in another person's heart can you truly see yourself and the presence of God within you.”

BelieveHeartMeanPersonsTwoDifferentFeelingsRememberEasyPathLonelinessSolitudeLonelyMirrorsDifferent ThingsWithin YouPresence Of GodRight PathFeeling LonelyLoneliness And SolitudeTwo Different Things
Author:Elif Safak
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“For one who is indifferent, life itself is a prison. Any sense of community is external or, even worse, nonexistent. Thus, indifference means solitude. Those who are indifferent do not see others. They feel nothing for others and are unconcerned with what might happen to them. They are surrounded by a great emptiness. Filled by it, in fact. They are devoid of all hope as well as imagination. In other words, devoid of any future.”

FeelsWellsMeanFactsMightHappensHopeCommunityImaginationSolitudeFilledPrisonIndifferenceEmptinessIndifferentUnconcerned
Author:Elie Wiesel
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“Isolation, not solitude, breaks men. If I could not find the means to deal with the isolation, then my options were severely limited. I began to call up memories of places, people, events, food-anything I could do to occupy my mind and remind myself that, even if I was being treated like an animal, I was still a living breathing human being.”

PeopleIfsMenMindHumansMeanStillsMemoriesHuman BeingsAnimalDealsBreakEventsLonelinessSolitudeTreatedBreathingIsolationIf I Could
Author:Shawn Thompson
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“By all means use sometimes to be alone. Salute thyself: see what thy soul doth wear. Dare to look in thy chest; for 'Tis thine own: And tumble up and down what thou findst there. Who cannot rest till he good fellows find, he breaks up house, turns out of doors his mind.”

MindLooksMeanSoulSometimesUseTurnsHouseBreakDoorsSolitudeFellowsDareChestsUp And DownThyselfSalute
Book:The poetical works of George Herbert and Reginald Heber: With memoirs. Eight engravings on steel
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“For the quirkyalone, there is no patience for dating just for the sake of not being alone. On a fine but by no means transcendent date we dream of going home to watch television. We would prefer to be alone with our own thoughts than with a less than perfect fit. We are almost constitutionally incapable of casual relationships.”

MeanHomeDreamPerfectWatchesTelevisionFineFitSolitudeDatingSakeIncapableCasualTranscendentGoing HomeNo PatiencePerfect FitPuzzle PieceCasual Relationships
Author:Sasha Cagen
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“Solitude does not necessarily mean living apart from others; rather, it means never living apart from one's self. It is not about the absence of other people -- it is about being fully present to ourselves, whether or not we are with others. Community does not necessarily mean living face-to-face with others; rather, it means never losing the awareness that we are connected to each other. It is not about the presence of other people -- it is about being fully open to the reality of relationship, whether or not we are alone.”

PeopleMeanDoeSelfRealityFacesCommunityAwarenessSolitudeLosingConnectedAbsenceFace To Face
Author:Parker J. Palmer
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