Solitude was my only consolation – deep, dark, deathlike solitude. Mary Shelley
O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap
Of murky buildings; climb with me the steep, –
Nature’s observatory – whence the dell,
Its flowery slopes, its river’s crystal swell,
May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep
’Mongst boughs pavillion’d, where the deer’s swift leap
Startles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell.
But though I’ll gladly trace these scenes with thee,
Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind,
Whose words are images of thoughts refin’d,
Is my soul’s pleasure; and it sure must be
Almost the highest bliss of human-kind,
When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee. John Keats, To Solitude
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
I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. Henry David Thoreau
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
Solitude is independence. Hermann Hesse
In solitude the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself. Laurence Sterne
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
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
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. Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights, Mr Lockwood
God is absence. God is the solitude of man. Jean-Paul Sartre
Conversation enriches the understanding but solitude is the school of genius. Edward Gibbon
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. Zoe Heller, Notes on a Scandal, 2003; viz also film
You notice things others don’t. You question what others blindly accept. And slowly, people begin to drift away. Psyphos podcast: Schopenhauer: Smart = Alone: Why Society Rejects the Trully Intelligent, Youtube 2025
Deep down you feel a stranger among your own kind. ibid.
What if society just is not built for people like you? ibid.
The more deeply you think, you more alienated you become. ibid.
Your loneliness might be the highest proof of your mind. ibid.
It’s social exile. Because when you can see through the game, you stop playing it. ibid.
Schopenhauer: He believed that life at core was suffering, and that the more conscious you are, the more you feel it. ibid.
A man can be himself only so long as he is alone. ibid.
You see the world for what it is: A dance of illusions powered by unconscious craving. ibid.
You are not broken. You are just awake. ibid.
Because their minds crave depth, muance, ideas, not gossip, repetition or emotional noise. ibid.
This sensitivity is not a super-power, it is a burden. ibid.
Solitude is not just an escape, it’s a reclamation of your mind, of your time, of your energy. ibid.
[Michel de Montaigne]: ‘The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to yourself.’ Psyphoria podcasts: The Art of Not Caring: When You Embrace Uncertainty, Life Becomes Easier, Youtube 2025
Have you ever stopped to think about how much of your anguish comes from your obsession with control? … Internal control: the suffocating need for certainties, to know what will happen tomorrow. ibid.
No more certainties, but a new relationship with what cannot be controlled. ibid.
Montaigne was not an ordinary philosopher … He wrote from within his own skin. ibid.
Montaigne embraced the opposite: he did not know. ibid.
In a time when everyone shouts, he whispers. ibid.
Anxiety is the fear of the unpredictable. ibid.
It’s the desire for life to be different from what it is. ibid.
[Carl Jung]: ‘Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.’ Psyphoria podcasts: You Must Let Go: Who to Let Go From Someone Who Hurts You
You say that you want to forget, to move on. But tell me, why do you still think about that person every day? ibid.
You miss what you projected on to them: the illusion of love. ibid.
Often what we call love is just our shadow clinging to someone. ibid.
As long as you continue to seek outside what is missing inside, you will be enternally imprisoned by the gaze of the other. ibid.
The unconscious search for validation and the price paid for betraying oneself. ibid.
If deep down you feel like you are living a lie, you will continue to feel empty. ibid.
The role of the shadow in repeating toxic patterns. ibid.
Carl Jung defined the shadow as ‘everything you do not want to be, but are’. ibid.
Burying is not eliminating. ibid.
You will have to face everything you have avoided. ibid.
[Schopenhauer]: ‘A high degree of intellect tends to make a man unsocial.’ Psyphoria podcasts: Pretend to be Dumb: You Will Never Want to be Smart Again: Schopenhauer
There is a price to intelligence … On the contrary, they suffer more. ibid.
The truth is not something people want to hear … because the truth is unsettling. ibid.
A brilliant mind is a curse because it destroys illusions. ibid.
Intelligence brings with it an increase in sensitivity. ibid.
[Dostoyevsky]: ‘The darker the night, the brighter the stars. The deeper the grief, the closer is God.’ Psyphoria podcasts: Stop Trying: The More You Try to be Happy, The More You’ll Suffer
You are tired, aren’t you? Tired of chasing a happiness that never arrives. You wake up and feel an emptiness. You go to sleep and it’s still there. ibid.
He [Dostoyevsky] knew that this modern obssession with being happy is a disease disguised as a solution. ibid.
‘Suffering is the only source of consciousness.’ ibid. Dostoyevsky
Being happy has become an obligation. ibid.
The false promise of positive thinking. ibid.
Dostoyevsky saw suffering as a path to true freedom. ibid.
What if you stopped trying to be happy? ibid.
[Carl Jung]: ‘I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.’ Psyphoria podcasts: Stop Giving a Fuck: Nothing & Nobody Will Ever Hurt You Again: Carl Jung
Have you ever wished to be someone who is unshakable? Someone who doesn’t care about rejection, loss or betrayal? ibid.
The biggest lie that you’ve been told is that you are in control of your life. Wake up because you’re not. ibid.
But control is an illusion. ibid.
What you need is not more control but more awareness. ibid.
You have already gone through the fire. You have faced your monsters. ibid.
Nothing will shield you from external suffering. ibid.
[Carl Jung]: ‘Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.’ Psyphoria podcasts: Carl Jung: It’s Time To Say No More: You Have No Idea the Self-Love That Awakens Ater Saying No More
There comes a moment in every person’s life when without warning something inside breaks. It’s not sadness. It’s not anger. It’s something deeper. It feels as if the soul itself grows tired of carrying the weight of other people’s expectations, of holding on to relationships that only drain.
The beginning of a true process of individuation. ibid.
A silent scream that has been waiting years to be heard. ibid.