Alone Quotes
Byron, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Emil Cioran, Edward Young and Wordsworth lead. Edward Gibbon’s Memoirs (1796) supplies the sentence that sums up the page: he was never less alone than when by himself. Shelley, in 1821, loves tranquil solitude and such society as is quiet, wise and good, and Pope’s Ode on Solitude wants a few paternal acres and the air of one’s own ground.
Three entries are flagged. “Solitude is the mother of anxieties,” credited to Publilius Syrus, is disputed. A passage about sitting and thinking in solitude to the music of the stream and the cedar, credited to John Muir, is marked misattributed, and the note points to a Sierra Club page on Muir misquotes. “Solitude is fine, but you need someone to tell you that solitude is fine” is credited to Balzac and marked misattributed.
It's not that I hate people, I just feel better when they're not around.
It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is as true of men as of dogs.
If you sing of beauty though alone in the heart of the desert you will have an audience.
They're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it's better than drinking alone.
If I have penetrated something, it’s only to be alone with all I see.
For solitude sometimes is best society,
And short retirement urges sweet return.
I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.