WIST Quotations

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126

Dave — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 20:07:31 +0000

The greater part of the admirers of solitude, as of all other classes of mankind, have no higher or remoter view, than the present gratification of their passions. Of these, some, haughty and impetuous, fly from society only because they cannot bear to repay to others the regard which themselves exact; and think no state of life eligible, but that which places them out of the reach of censure or control, and affords them opportunities of living in a perpetual compliance with their own inclinations, without the necessity of regulating their actions by any other man’s convenience or opinion.
There are others, of minds more delicate and tender, easily offended by every deviation from rectitude, soon disgusted by ignorance or impertinence, and always expecting from the conversation of mankind more elegance, purity and truth, than the mingled mass of life will easily afford. Such men are in haste to retire from grossness, falsehood and brutality; and hope to find in private habitations at least a negative felicity, an exemption from the shocks and perturbations with which publick scenes are continually distressing them.
To neither of these votaries will solitude afford that content, which she has been taught so lavishly to promise. The man of arrogance will quickly discover, that by escaping from his opponents he has lost his flatterers, that greatness is nothing where it is not seen, and power nothing where it cannot be felt: and he, whose faculties are employed in too close an observation of failings and defects, will find his condition very little mended by transferring his attention from others to himself: he will probably soon come back in quest of new objects, and be glad to keep his captiousness employed on any character rather than his own.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126
(Source)

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 81 (1725)

Dave — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 16:12:19 +0000

Better be alone, than in bad Company.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 81 (1725)
(Source)

See also Clarke (1639), Herbert (1640), Washington (1747).

Millay, Edna St. Vincent -- Sonnet 43 “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,” ll. 9ff. (1920), The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems (1923)

Dave — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 16:47:16 +0000

Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
Sonnet 43 “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,” ll. 9ff. (1920), The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems (1923)
(Source)

Originally published in Vanity Fair (1920-11).

Fry, Stephen -- “Trefusis on Any Questions,” Loose Ends, BBC Radio 4 (c. 1987)

Dave — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 21:47:52 +0000

It is astonishing how articulate one can become when alone and raving at a radio. Arguments and counter arguments, rhetoric and bombast flow from one’s lips like scurf from the hair of a bank manager.

Stephen Fry (b. 1957) British actor, writer, comedian
“Trefusis on Any Questions,” Loose Ends, BBC Radio 4 (c. 1987)
(Source)

Reprinted in Paperweight (1992)

Wilbur, Richard -- “Some Opposites,” Opposites (1973)

Dave — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 17:30:33 +0000

What is the opposite of two?
A lonely me, a lonely you.

Richard Wilbur (1921-2017) American poet, literary translator
“Some Opposites,” Opposites (1973)
(Source)

De Stael, Germaine -- Quoted in Margaret Goldsmith, Madame de Staël (1938)

Dave — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 19:39:38 +0000

A voyage without companionship, that is to say without conversation, is one of the saddest pleasures of life.

Germaine de Staël (1766-1817) Swiss-French writer, woman of letters, critic, salonist [Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein, Madame de Staël, Madame Necker]
Quoted in Margaret Goldsmith, Madame de Staël (1938)

See also here.

Holland, Barbara -- One’s Company: Reflections on Living Alone (1996)

Dave — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 16:26:25 +0000

No doubt about it, solitude is improved by being voluntary.

Barbara Holland (1933-2010) American author
One’s Company: Reflections on Living Alone (1996)
(Source)

Bukowski, Charles -- “Oh Yes,” You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense (1986)

Dave — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 15:25:49 +0000

there are worse things than
being alone
but it often takes decades
to realize this
and most often
when you do
it’s too late
and there’s nothing worse
than
too late.

Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) German-American author, poet
“Oh Yes,” You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense (1986)
(Source)

Bukowski, Charles -- sifting through the madness for the Word, the line, the way, Part 2, epigram (2003)

Dave — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 19:25:10 +0000

Real loneliness is not necessarily limited to when you are alone.

Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) German-American author, poet
sifting through the madness for the Word, the line, the way, Part 2, epigram (2003)
(Source)

The book was reprinted as New Poems, Book Two (2011).

Sarton, May -- Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing (1965)

Dave — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 14:21:15 +0000

Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing (1965)
(Source)

Repeated in an interview with John McNally, Castaway's Choice, KCRW (1 Jul 1988).

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1966)

Dave — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 23:51:16 +0000

In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1966)
(Source)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1966)

Dave — Thu, 20 May 2021 18:29:31 +0000

Loneliness, insomnia, and change: the fear of these is even worse than the reality.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1966)

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- Laelius De Amicitia [Laelius on Friendship], ch. 23 / sec. 88 (44 BC) [tr. Falconer (1923)]

Dave — Mon, 03 May 2021 18:27:12 +0000

If a man should ascend alone into heaven and behold clearly the structure of the universe and the beauty of the stars, there would be no pleasure for him in the awe-inspiring sight, which would have filled him with delight if he had had someone to whom he could describe what he had seen.

[Si quis in coelum ascendisset, naturamque mundi, et pulchritudinem siderum perspexisset, insuavem illam admirationem ei fore; quae jucudissima fuisset, si aliquem, cui narraret, habuisset.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Laelius De Amicitia [Laelius on Friendship], ch. 23 / sec. 88 (44 BC) [tr. Falconer (1923)]
(Source)

Original Latin. Cicero attributes this as a paraphrase of Archytas of Tarentum (d. 394 BC), a Pythagorean philosopher and astronomer. Alternate translations:

If any one could have ascended to the sky, and surveyed the structure of the universe, and the beauty of the stars, that such admiration would be insipid to him; and yet it would be most delightful if he had someone to whom he might describe it.
[tr. Edmonds (1871)]

If one had ascended to heaven, and had obtained a full view of the nature of the universe and the beauty of the stars, yet his admiration would be without delight, if there were no one to whom he could tell what he had seen.
[tr. Peabody (1887)]

If a man could ascend to heaven and get a clear view of the natural order of the universe, and the beauty of the heavenly bodies, that wonderful spectacle would give him small pleasure, though nothing could be conceived more delightful if he had but had some one to whom to tell what he had seen.
[tr. Shuckburgh (1909)]

If a man could mount to heaven and survey the mighty universe with all the planetary orbs, his admiration of its beauties would be much diminished, unless he had someone to share in his pleasure.
[Source]

Mansfield, Katherine -- Letter to John Middleton Murry (Jul 1917)

Dave — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 15:35:01 +0000

It’s a terrible thing to be alone — yes it is — it is — but don’t lower your mask until you have another mask prepared beneath — As terrible as you like — but a mask.

Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) New Zealander writer, poet [pen name of Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp)]
Letter to John Middleton Murry (Jul 1917)
(Source)

Barrett, James Lee -- Shenandoah (1965)

Dave — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 18:41:08 +0000

ANN ANDERSON: Here’s something else you must remember: husbands like to be alone once in awhile.
JENNIE ANDERSON: Why?
ANN ANDERSON: You never know why, but I can always tell when James wants to be alone. A mood comes over him. I can always see it in his eyes before it gets there. I don’t know where the mood comes from or why, but that’s when I leave him alone. It seems sometimes things get so fickle in a man that he comes to feel that everything is closing in on him — and that’s when he wants to be left alone. You understand, don’t you?
JENNIE ANDERSON: No!

James Lee Barrett (1929-1989) American author, producer, screenwriter
Shenandoah (1965)
(Source)

Welles, Orson -- In Someone to Love, film (1987) [written and directed by Henry Jaglom]

Dave — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 21:34:22 +0000

We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.

Orson Welles (1915-1985) American writer, director, actor
In Someone to Love, film (1987) [written and directed by Henry Jaglom]

Ad libbed by Welles, in his last film appearance.

Connolly, Cyril -- “Writers and Society, 1940-3” (1943), The Condemned Playground (1946)

Dave — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 19:37:03 +0000

In relation to his public, the artist of to-day […] walks at first with his companions, till one day he falls through a hole in the brambles, and from that moment is following the dark rapids of an underground river which may sometimes flow so near the surface that the laughing picnic parties are heard above, only to re-immerse itself in the solitude of the limestone and carry him along its winding tunnel, until it gushes out through the misty creeper-hung cave which he has always believed to exist, and sets him back in the sun.

Cyril Connolly (1903-1974) English intellectual, literary critic and writer.
“Writers and Society, 1940-3” (1943), The Condemned Playground (1946)
(Source)

Valéry, Paul -- “Moralités” (1932), Tel Quel 1 (1941)

Dave — Mon, 18 May 2020 16:26:20 +0000

God created man and, finding him not sufficiently alone, gave him a companion to make him feel his solitude more keenly.

Paul Valéry (1871-1945) French poet, critic, author, polymath
“Moralités” (1932), Tel Quel 1 (1941)

Helgoe, Laurie -- Introvert Power, ch. 2 (2008)

Dave — Fri, 08 May 2020 17:04:01 +0000

Solitude is not lack.

Laurie Helgoe (b. 1960) American psychologist and author
Introvert Power, ch. 2 (2008)
(Source)

Sometimes misquoted "Solitude is not a lack."

McGinley, Phyllis -- “A Lost Privilege,” The Province of the Heart (1959)

Dave — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 22:11:02 +0000

Who could deny that privacy is a jewel? I has always been the mark of privilege, the distinguishing feature of a truly urbane culture. Out of the cave, the tribal teepee, the pueblo, the community fortress, man emerged to build himself a house of his own with a shelter in it for himself and his diversions. Every age has seen it so. The poor might have to huddle together in cities for need’s sake, and the frontiersman cling to his neighbors for the sake of protection. But in each civilization, as it advanced, those who could afford it chose the luxury of a withdrawing-place.

Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978) American author, poet
“A Lost Privilege,” The Province of the Heart (1959)
(Source)

Neruda, Pablo -- Sonnet 65

Dave — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 18:31:30 +0000

… so I wait for you like a lonely house
till you will see me again and live in me.
Till then my windows ache.

[… y así te espero como casa sola
y volverás a verme y habitarme.
De otro modo me duelen las ventanas.]

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) Chilean poet, diplomat, politician [b. Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto]
Sonnet 65
(Source)

Whyte, David -- “Sweet Darkness,” House of Belonging (1996)

Dave — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 13:37:48 +0000

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn

anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.

David Whyte (b. 1955) Anglo-Irish poet
“Sweet Darkness,” House of Belonging (1996)
(Source)

Millay, Edna St. Vincent -- Letter to Whitter “Hal” Bynner and Arthur Davidson Ficke (1920)

Dave — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 01:09:36 +0000

Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the day-time, and falling into at night.

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
Letter to Whitter “Hal” Bynner and Arthur Davidson Ficke (1920)
(Source)

Lamartine, Alphonse de -- “Solitude [L’isolement],”Poetic Meditations [Méditations Poétiques] (1820) [tr. J. Churchill]

Dave — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 01:49:13 +0000

The cots, the palaces and valleys here,
Are nought to me, their charm, alas! is fled;
Floods, rocks, and forests, solitudes so dear
One soul is wanting, and all else seems dead

[Que me font ces vallons, ces palais, ces chaumières,
Vains objets dont pour moi le charme est envolé?
Fleuves, rochers, forêts solitudes si chères,
Un seul être vous manque et tout est dépeuplé!]

Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869) French poet and statesman
“Solitude [L’isolement],”Poetic Meditations [Méditations Poétiques] (1820) [tr. J. Churchill]
(Source)

Alt. trans. ["Isolation"]:
"What for me do these valleys, these palaces, these cottages,
Vain objects of which for me the charm has fled?
Streams, rocks, forests, solitudes so dear,
One single being from you is missing, and everything is depopulated."

Alt. trans.:
"Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated."

Montessori, Maria -- The Advanced Montessori Method: Spontaneous Activity in Education, Vol. I (1917)

Dave — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 01:44:22 +0000

To ensure moral salvation, it is primarily necessary to depend on oneself, because in the moment of peril we are alone. And strength is not to be acquired instantaneously. He who knows that he will have to fight, prepares himself for boxing and dueling by strength and skill; he does not sit still with folded hands.

Maria Montessori (1870-1952) Italian educator, philosopher, educator, physician
The Advanced Montessori Method: Spontaneous Activity in Education, Vol. I (1917)

Lindbergh, Anne Morrow -- Gift From the Sea (1955)

Dave — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 00:48:05 +0000

The world today does not understand, in either man or woman, the need to be alone. How inexplicable it seems. Anything else will be accepted as a better excuse. If one sets aside time for a business appointment, a trip to the hairdresser, a social engagement or a shopping expedition, that time is accepted as inviolable. But if one says: I cannot come because that is my hour to be alone, one is considered rude, egotistical or strange. What a commentary on our civilization, when being alone is considered suspect; when one has to apologize for it, make excuses, hide the fact that one practices it — like a secret vice!

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001) American writer, pilot
Gift From the Sea (1955)
(Source)

Browne, Thomas -- Christian Morals, Part 3, sec. 9 (1716)

Dave — Wed, 31 May 2017 01:52:31 +0000

Be able to be alone. Loose not the advantage of Solitude, and the Society of thy self, nor be only content, but delight to be alone and single with Omnipresency.

Thomas Browne (1605-1682) English physician and author
Christian Morals, Part 3, sec. 9 (1716)
(Source)

Buck, Pearl S. -- Interview, New York Post (26 Apr 1959)

Dave — Wed, 24 May 2017 00:03:50 +0000

I love people. I love my family, my children … but inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that’s where you renew your springs that never dry up.

Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) American writer
Interview, New York Post (26 Apr 1959)

Often paraphrased, "Inside myself is a place where I live all alone, and that is where I renew my springs that never dry up."

Goethe, Johann von -- Torquato Tasso, Act 1, sc. 2, ll. 304-305 [Leonora] (1790) [tr. Ryder (1993)]

Dave — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 15:03:16 +0000

A talent forms itself in solitude,
A character amid the stream of life.

[Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille,
Sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt.]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
Torquato Tasso, Act 1, sc. 2, ll. 304-305 [Leonora] (1790) [tr. Ryder (1993)]
(Source)

(Source (German)). Alternate translations:

"A talent doth in stillness form itself -- / A character on life's unquiet stream." [tr. Des Voeux (1827)]
"Talents are nurtured best in solitude, -- / A character on life's tempestuous sea." [tr. Swanwick (1843)]
"Man's talent ripens in tranquility, / His character in battling with the world." [tr. Cartwright (1861)]
"A talent in tranquility is formed, / A character in the turbulence of affairs." [tr. Hamburger (20th C)]
"Talent develops in quiet places, / Character in the full current of human life."
Talents are best nurtured in solitude; / Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.
"Genius is formed in quiet, / Character in the stream of human life."

Bronte, Anne -- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, ch. 7 “The Excursion” [Helen] (1848)

Dave — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 21:00:23 +0000

No one can be happy in eternal solitude.

Anne Brontë (1820-1849) British novelist, poet [pseud. Acton Bell]
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, ch. 7 “The Excursion” [Helen] (1848)
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1838)

Dave — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 00:18:25 +0000

Solitude is naught and society is naught. Alternate them and the good of each is seen.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1838)

Hughes, Charles Evans -- Address to the YMCA, New York

Dave — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 00:33:59 +0000

A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company.

Charles Evans Hughes, Sr. (1862-1948) American statesman, politician, Supreme Court Justice (1910-1916, 1930-1941)
Address to the YMCA, New York

Quoted in The Homiletic Review (Nov 1907)

Verne, Jules -- The Mysterious Island, Part 2, ch. 15 (1874) [tr. White (1876)]

Dave — Fri, 13 May 2016 20:28:43 +0000

It is a great misfortune to be alone, my friends; and it must be believed that solitude can quickly destroy reason.

[Malheur à qui est seul, mes amis, et il faut croire que l’isolement a vite fait de détruire la raison.]

Jules Verne (1828-1905) French novelist, poet, playwright
The Mysterious Island, Part 2, ch. 15 (1874) [tr. White (1876)]
(Source)

Gravina, Gian Vincenzo -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 20:32:49 +0000

A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.

Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina (1664-1718) Italian man of letters and jurist
(Attributed)

The actual provenance of this quotation is unknown. The earliest reference is in Reader's Digest (1949-03), where it is attributed by a contributor to Gravina, but identifying him as a contemporary author; the connection to the 18th Century Italian author and jurist is therefore tenuous.

Also attributed to Oscar Wilde (but not until long after his death), John C. MacDonald (who did use it, but attributed it to Gravina), and Roger Ebert (who did use it, but attributed it to John D. MacDonald).

A similar phrase can be found in Marcel Proust, The Captive [La Prisonnière], Part 1, ch. 1 (1923) [tr. Moncrieff (1929)] (Part 6 of his Remembrance of Things Past [A la Recherche du Temps Perdu]) [English, French]:

Mamma would write to me: “Mme. Sazerat gave us one of those little luncheons of which she possesses the secret and which, as your poor grandmother would have said, quoting Mme. de Sévigné, deprive us of solitude without affording us company.”

[Maman m’écrivait : «Mme Sazerat nous a donné un de ces petits déjeuners dont elle a le secret et qui, comme eût dit ta pauvre grand’mère, en citant Mme de Sévigné, nous enlèvent à la solitude sans nous apporter la société.»]

More information and research into the quotation's origin can be found here: Quote Origin: A Bore Is a Person Who Deprives You of Solitude Without Providing You with Company – Quote Investigator®. QI says some very nice things about me and this site regarding the preliminary research I did on the question of authorship.

La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶216 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]

Dave — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 16:20:40 +0000

Perfect valour is to behave, without witnesses, as one would act were all the world watching.

[La parfaite valeur est de faire sans témoins ce qu’on serait capable de faire devant tout le monde.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶216 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]
(Source)

(Appeared in the 1st (1665) ed. as the similar:

[La pure valeur, s’il y en avoit, seroit de faire sans témoins ce qu’on est capable de faire devant le monde.]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

Pure Valour, if there were any such thing, would consist in the doing of that without witnesses, which it were able to do, if all the world were to be spectators thereof.
[tr. Davies (1669), ¶117]

True Valour would do all that, when alone, that it could do, if all the World were by.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶217]

Perfect valour consists in doing without witnesses all we should be capable of doing before the whole world.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶431; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶207; ed. Carvill (1835), ¶367]

Perfect valor is to do unwitnessed what we should be capable of doing before all the world.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶225]

Perfect valour is to do without witnesses what one would do before all the world.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶216]

Perfect valor accomplishes without witnesses what anyone could do before the eyes of the world.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶221]

Perfect courage consists in doing unobserved what we could do in the eyes of the world.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶216]

Perfect courage means doing unwitnessed what we would be capable of with the world looking on.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶216]

Perfect valor consists in doing without witnesses what one would be capable of doing before the world at large.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶216]

Perfect bravery is being able to do without witnesses what one would be able to do in front of everyone.
[tr. Siniscalchi (c. 1994)]

Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would do before all the world.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶216]

Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on.
[Source]

Kissinger, Henry -- The Necessity for Choice: Prospects of American Foreign Policy, 7.4 (1961)

Dave — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 14:33:47 +0000

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
The Necessity for Choice: Prospects of American Foreign Policy, 7.4 (1961)

Helgoe, Laurie -- Introvert Power, ch. 1 (2008)

Dave — Fri, 16 May 2014 13:26:01 +0000

I’m rarely bored alone; I am often bored in groups and crowds.

Laurie Helgoe (b. 1960) American psychologist and author
Introvert Power, ch. 1 (2008)
(Source)

Usually attributed to Helgoe, but cited in the book to "Don, Minnesota."

Billings, Josh -- On Ice: and Other Things, 60 (1868)

Dave — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 12:59:20 +0000

Those who retire from the world on akount ov its sin and peskyness must not forgit that they hav got tew keep kompany with a person who wants just as much watching as ennyboddy else.

[Those who retire from the world on account of its sin and peskiness must not forget that they have got to keep company with a person who wants just as much watching as anybody else.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
On Ice: and Other Things, 60 (1868)

Roux, Joseph -- Meditations of a Parish Priest, 5.60 [tr. Hapgood (1886)]

Dave — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 13:00:39 +0000

Solitude vivifies; isolation kills.

Joseph Roux (1834-1886) French Catholic priest
Meditations of a Parish Priest, 5.60 [tr. Hapgood (1886)]

Merton, Thomas -- No Man Is an Island, 9.3 (1955)

Dave — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 14:08:34 +0000

There is no true intimacy between souls who do not know how to respect one another’s solitude.

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) French-American religious and writer [a.k.a. Fr. M. Louis]
No Man Is an Island, 9.3 (1955)

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 99 (1725)

Dave — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 14:46:18 +0000

Endeavor to make thy own Company pleasant to thee.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 99 (1725)
(Source)

Tillich, Paul -- The Eternal Now, “Loneliness and Solitude” (1963)

Dave — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 19:56:41 +0000

Our language has wisely sensed these two sides of man’s being alone. It has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.

Paul Tillich (1886-1965) American theologian and philosopher
The Eternal Now, “Loneliness and Solitude” (1963)
(Source)

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1785-08-19) to Peter Carr

Dave — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:28:05 +0000

Whenever you are to do a thing tho’ it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1785-08-19) to Peter Carr
(Source)

Lowell, James Russell -- Among My Books, “Dryden” (1870)

Dave — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:02:29 +0000

Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American diplomat, essayist, poet
Among My Books, “Dryden” (1870)

La Bruyere, Jean de -- The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 11 “Of Mankind [De l’Homme],” § 99 (11.99) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

All menʼs misfortunes proceed from their aversion to being alone; hence gambling, extravagance, dissipation, wine, women, ignorance, slander, envy, and forgetfulness of what we owe to God and ourselves.

[Tout notre mal vient de ne pouvoir être seuls: de là le jeu, le luxe, la dissipation, le vin, les femmes, l’ignorance, la médisance, l’envie, l’oubli de soi-même et de Dieu.]

Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 11 “Of Mankind [De l’Homme],” § 99 (11.99) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

All men's misfortunes proceed from their inability to be alone, from Gaming, Riot, Extravagance, Wine, Women, Ignorance, Railing, Envy, and forgetting their duty towards God and themselves.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]

All our Misfortunes proceed from an Inability to be alone; from thence come Gaming, Riot, Extravagance, Wine, Women, Ignorance, Railing, Envy, and forgetting God and our selves.
[Curll ed. (1713)]

All Mens Misfortunes proceed from their Aversion to being alone; hence Gaming, Riot, Extravagance, Wine, Women, Ignorance, Railing, Envy and Forgetfulness of God and themselves.
[Browne ed. (1752)]

All our misfortunes proceed from our inability to be alone; hence gaming, dissipation, wine, women, ignorance, slander, envy, neglect of God and ourselves.
[tr. Lee (1903)]

All our troubles spring from our inability to endure solitude: hence come gaming, luxury, dissipation, drink, licentiousness, scandal-mongering, envy, the neglect of oneself and of God.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]

Sartre, Jean-Paul -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

If you are lonely when you’re alone, you are in bad company.

[Si vous êtes seul quand vous êtes seul, vous êtes en mauvaise compagnie.]

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) French philosopher and writer
(Attributed)

Widely attributed, in both languages, to Satre (especially by self-help books), but I am unable to find any actual citation of its source. Given that Sartre wrote a lot about loneliness, it is possibly a paraphrase of of something else he said.

Pascal, Blaise -- Pensées #139 “Diversion” (1670)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

When I have occasionally set myself to consider the different distractions of men, the pains and perils to which they expose themselves at court or in war, whence arise so many quarrels, passions, bold and often bad ventures, etc., I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) French scientist and philosopher
Pensées #139 “Diversion” (1670)
(Source)

Alt. trans.: "I have often said that man's unhappiness springs from one thing alone, his incapacity to stay quietly in one room."

Alt. trans.: "All the trouble in the world is due to the fact that a man cannot sit still in a room."

Milne, A. A. -- House at Pooh Corner, ch. 9 “Eeyore Finds the Wolery” (1928)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

You’ve never been to see any of us. You just stay here in this one corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. Why don’t you go to them sometimes?

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
House at Pooh Corner, ch. 9 “Eeyore Finds the Wolery” (1928)
(Source)

Rabbit to Eeyore.

Sometimes paraphrased: "You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes."

Bacon, Francis -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
(Attributed)