88,861. I have an immense appetite for solitude, like an infant for sleep, and if I don't get enough for this year, I shall cry all the next. Henry David Thoreau
88,863. I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. (Solitude & Friend) Henry David Thoreau
88,862. Uncontradicting solitude
Supports me on its giant palm;
And like a sea-anemone
Or simple snail, there cautiously
Unfolds, emerges, what I am. Philip Larkin
88,864. Solitude is independence. Hermann Hesse
88,865. In solitude the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself. Laurence Sterne
88,866. O solitude, where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms,
Than reign in this horrible place. William Cowper
88,872. O sacred solitude! divine retreat!
Choice of the prudent! envy of the great,
By thy pure stream, or in thy waving shade,
We court fair wisdom, that celestial maid. Edward Young, Love of Fame V:254
94,691. I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself. (Solitude & Alone) Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights, Mr Lockwood
18. God is absence. God is the solitude of man. (God & Absence & Solitude) Jean-Paul Sartre
98,654. Conversation enriches the understanding but solitude is the school of genius. (Conversation & Solitude & Genius) Edward Gibbon
79,893. People like Sheba think they know what it is to be lonely. But of the drip, drip of the long-haul no-end-in-sight solitude. They know nothing. What it’s like to construct an entire weekend around a visit to the launderette. Or to be so chronically untouched that the accidental brush of a bus conductor’s hand sends a jilt of longing straight to your groin. (Loneliness & Solitude) Zoe Heller, Notes on a Scandal, 2003; viz also film