But solitude for its own sake should surely never be preferred. We are bound by the strongest obligations to busy ourselves amid the world of men, if it be only to crack jokes.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet

Essay (1880-01/02?), “Reflections and Remarks on Human Life,” § 4.3 “Solitude and Society”
    (Source)

A collection of aphorisms and musings, first published in the Edinburgh Edition of his Works, vol. 28 (1898).