“…Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
Luke 5:16 NIV
Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.
Pablo Picasso
“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
Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.
Marcus Aurelius
Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.
May Sarton
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
Blaise Pascal
“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
“The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.”
Aldous Huxley
“To be alone is the fate of all great minds — a fate deplored at times, but still always chosen as the less grievous of two evils.”
Arthur Schopenhauer
“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