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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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“The amateur has a long list of fears. Near the top are two: Solitude and silence. The amateur fears solitude and silence because she needs to avoid, at all costs, the voice inside her head that would point her toward her calling and her destiny. So she seeks distraction. The amateur prizes shallowness and shuns depth. The culture of Twitter and Facebook is paradise for the amateur.”

NeedsLongTwoMotivationalCultureVoiceSilenceDestinyCallingCostSolitudeDepthListsParadisePrizeDistractionSilence IsShallownessTwitter And Facebook
Author:Steven Pressfield
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“I'm afraid my closely guarded solitude causes some hurt feelings now and then. But how to explain, without wounding someone, that you want to be wholly in the world you are writing about, that it would take two days to get the visitor's voice out of the house so that you could listen to your own characters again?”

WorldWantWritingTwoCharacterFeelingsHouseCausesVoiceHurtSolitudePhotographyNow And ThenVisitorsHurt FeelingsTwo DaysGuarded
Book:Portrait of Myself
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“Here is the infallible test. Imagine yourself in a situation where you are alone, wholly alone on earth, and you are offered one of the two, books or men. I often hear men prizing their solitude but that is only because there are still men somewhere on earth even though in the far distance. I knew nothing of books when I came forth from the womb of my mother, and I shall die without books, with another human hand in my own. I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human being looking at me.”

MenHumansStillsI CanTwoBookHandsEarthMotherDiesMy OwnHuman BeingsSituationImagineDoorsAtheismSolitudeTestsDistancePositive AtheismSurrenderWhere You AreWombBecause I CanInfallibleHuman HandsFar Distance
Book:Pointing the way: collected essays. Edited and translated with an introd. by Maurice S. Friedman
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“Johnson is wise, Boswell foolish; Johnson warns and abstains, Boswell plunges; Johnson is rather a great man writing than a greatwriter, Boswell is a great writer and an ordinary man; and they are two of a kind, abysmal melancholics and compulsive socializers, afraid of solitude and afraid of death and dissolution, victims of themselves, meant for each other, needing each other, needing evidence and arguments (Boswell is a lawyer, Johnson magisterially dictates to him some of his briefs), making beautiful models of rational discourse out of the useful substance of all they know.”

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Author:Marvin Mudrick
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“I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each shall stand guard over the solitude of the other. For, if it lies in the nature of indifference and of the crowd to recognize no solitude, then love and friendship are there for the purpose of continually providing the opportunity for solitude. And only those are the true sharings which rhythmically interrupt periods of deep isolation.”

PeopleIfsTwoLyingPurposeOpportunityPeriodsSolitudeHighestTasksCrowdsIndifferenceIsolationProvidingLove And Friendship
Book:Selected Letters
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“I didn't think I was in a morbid mood, but it appears I am. My mind goes round and round trying to figure things out, but I always come back to the same two things: Loneliness and Death. Life ends before we figure anything out, most importantly how not to be lonely. Solitude is fine. But feeling like you have no one to love - abject lonliness - is not alright.”

ThinkingTryingMindTwoEndsFeelingsLonelinessFiguresLike YouFineSolitudeLonelyRoundsMoodTwo ThingsAlrightLife DeathMorbidLonliness
Author:Jonathan Ames
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“Every season is likeable, and wet days and fine, red wine and white, company and solitude. Even sleep, that deplorable curtailment of the joy of life, can be full of dreams; and the most common actions──a walk, a talk, solitude in one’s own orchard──can be enhanced and lit up by the association of the mind. Beauty is everywhere, and beauty is only two finger’s-breadth from goodness.”

MindTwoDreamActionJoySleepWhiteWalksCommonCompanyFineSolitudeGoodnessRedSeasonsWineFingersAssociationWetLitJoy Of LifeBreadthOrchardLikeableRed Wine
Author:Virginia Woolf
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“Needless to say, the business of living interferes with the solitude so needed for any work of the imagination. Here's what Virginia Woolf said in her diary about the sticky issue: "I've shirked two parties, and another Frenchman, and buying a hat, and tea with Hilda Trevelyan, for I really can't combine all this with keeping all my imaginary people going.”

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Author:Virginia Woolf
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“All companionship can consist in only the strengthening of neighboring solitudes, giving oneself is by nature harmful to companionship: for when a person abandons himself, he is no longer anything, and when two people both give themselves up in order to become closer to each other, there is no longer any ground beneath them and their being together is a continual falling – I have learned over and over again, there is scarcely anything more difficult than to love one another.”

PeopleGivingPersonsTwoTogetherOrderFallDifficultSolitudeOneselfAbandonI Have LearnedCompanionshipLove One AnotherStrengtheningBeing Together
Author:Rainer Maria Rilke
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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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“The Tao gives birth to One. One gives birth to Two. Two gives birth to Three. Three gives birth to all things. All things have their backs to the female and stand facing the male. When male and female combine, all things achieve harmony. Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe.”

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Author:Laozi
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“...a condemned man who, at the hour of death, says or thinks that if the alternative were offered him of existing somewhere, on a height of rock or some narrow elevation, where only his two feet could stand, and round about him the ocean, perpetual gloom, perpetual solitude, perpetual storm, to remain there standing on a yard of surface for a lifetime, a thousand years, eternity! - rather would he live thus than die at once? Only live, live, live! - no matter how, only live!”

IfsThinkingMenYearsTwoMatterDiesHoursFeetRocksThousandSolitudeOceanStandingEternityLifetimeRoundsStormSurfaceAlternativesHeightPerpetualThousand YearsYardsGloomElevation
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“Then what am I - the body substance which I can see with my eyes and feel with my hands? Or am I this realization, this greater understanding which dwells within it, yet expands through the universe outside; a part of all existence, powerless but without need for power; immersed in solitude, yet in contact with all creation? There are moments when the two appear inseparable, and others when they could be cut apart by the merest flash of light.”

NeedsFeelsI CanTwoMomentsBodyHandsLightEyeUniverseUnderstandingExistenceGreaterCuttingCreationSolitudeContactRealizationSubstanceFlashPowerlessInseparable
Author:Charles Lindbergh
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