“The silence was profound. I sat, feeling my heart begin to open.”
Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 26)
Solitude Quotes
“Despite his ability to attract students, he seems to have spent much of his time in a state of perpetual despondency, loneliness everywhere crowding in on him. No doubt this state of mind was compounded by chronically poor health, but Bashō was also engaging true sabishi, a spiritual loneliness that served haikai culture in much the same way mu or ‘nothingness’ served Zen.”
Sam Hamill, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page XXXI)
“I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few lines in a journal. A day when one has not pushed oneself to the limit seems a damaged, damaging day, a sinful day. Not so! The most valuable thing one can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room.”
May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude
“Many of us seek community solely to escape the fear of being alone. Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”
bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions
Where The Crawdads Sing [Book]
![Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens [Book]](https://movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Crawdads.jpeg)
Book Overview: For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life–until the unthinkable happens. Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.
Post(s) Inspired by this Book:
“God created man, and finding him not sufficiently alone, gave him a female companion so that he might feel his solitude more acutely.”
Paul Valéry, via Sunbeams (Page 99)
“Yes, I felt closer to my fellow men, too, even in my solitude. For it is not physical solitude that actually separates one from other men, not physical isolation, but spiritual isolation. It is not the desert island nor the stony wilderness that cuts you from the people you love. It is the wilderness in the mind, the desert wastes in the heart through which one wanders lost and a stranger. When one is a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others, too. If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others. How often in a large city, shaking hands with my friends, I have felt the wilderness stretching between us. Both of us were wandering in arid wastes, having lost the springs that nourished us—or having found them dry. Only when one is connected to one’s own core is one connected to others, I am beginning to discover. And, for me, the core, the inner spring, can best be refound through solitude.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift From The Sea, via Sunbeams (Page 89)
“Breakthroughs seem to happen with stunning regularity in the shower or on a long hike. Where don’t they happen? Shouting to be heard in a bar. Three hours into a television binge. Nobody realizes just how much they love someone while they’re booking back-to back-to-back meetings. If solitude is the school of genius, as the historian Edward Gibbon put it, then the crowded, busy world is the purgatory of the idiot.”
Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 215)
“It is difficult to think clearly in rooms filled with other people. It’s difficult to understand yourself if you are never by yourself. It’s difficult to have much in the way of clarity and insight if your life is a constant party and your home is a construction site. Sometimes you have to disconnect in order to better connect with yourself and with the people you serve and love.”
Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 215)
“Every prophet must be forced into the wilderness—where they undergo solitude, deprivation, reflection, and meditation. It’s from this physical ordeal that ‘psychic dynamite’ is made.”
Winston Churchill, via Stillness is the Key (Page 179)
“Yes, every individual should make the life choices that are right for them. Still, there is something deeply misguided—and terribly sad—about a solitary existence. It is true that relationships take time. They also expose and distract us, cause pain, and cost money. We are also nothing without them.”
Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 143)
19 Quotes on Solitude from A Guy Who Spent A Year Alone in the Wilderness
Excerpt: That’s right! 19 quotes on solitude from Robert Kull—the guy who spent a year alone in the extreme conditions of the Patagonia wilderness.
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Albert Einstein Quote on Monotony and Solitude and How It Affects Creativity
“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.”
Albert Einstein
Beyond the Quote (73/365)
In lieu of recent events, it seems as though many of us are going to be experiencing more monotony and solitude than we otherwise might have expected or wanted. And while, yes, the unknowns associated with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) are certainly nerve-wracking and have been demanding our full attention, if you find yourself in a position of isolation or solitude—rather than looking at it as a prison from exploring the outside world, why not try looking at it as an opportunity to explore the depths of your inside world?
Read More »Albert Einstein Quote on Monotony and Solitude and How It Affects Creativity