How to be alone, without being lonely (57 inspirational quotes on solitude and isolation)

Derek Murphy creativity, inspiration, isolation, loneliness, solitude 1516

“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” – Michel de Montaigne
“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” – Lois Lowry
“The greatest thing about loneliness is you choose your own company.” – Allan Carr
“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” – Michel de Montaigne
“Language… 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
“The greatest thing in life is to be able to face adversity, and overcome it.” – Albert Schweitzer
“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” – Mother Teresa
“Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.” – May Sarton
“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” – Michel de Montaigne
“It is better to be alone than in bad company.” – George Washington
“The surest cure for vanity is loneliness.” – Tom Wolfe
“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.” – Albert Einstein
“Loneliness is the first thing which God’s eye named, not good.” – John Milton
“The worst part about being alone is that you have no one to share the pain with.” – Sushant Singh Rajput
“The greatest thing in the world is to be able to belong to someone else.” – Haruki Murakami
“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” – Mother Teresa
“I don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone.” – Daniel Keyes
“The greatest thing in the world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
“The greatest thing in the world is to be surrounded by people who want you to succeed.” – Gloria Lucas
“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” – Morrie Schwartz

Isolation Quotes from famous books

“I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.” – Walden by Henry David Thoreau (1854)
“There is no loneliness greater than the loneliness of a failure.” – The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (1940)
“All great and precious things are lonely.” – The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence (1915)
“It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone.” – East of Eden by John Steinbeck (1952)
“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.” – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
“The trouble is not that I am single and likely to stay single, but that I am lonely and likely to stay lonely.” – Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (1952)
“What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?” – An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (2006)
“The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being.” – The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1952)
“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.” – Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2001)
“It is easy to be lonely when you are afraid.” – The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (2003)
“I am lonely, yet not everybody will do. I don’t know why, some people fill the gaps and others emphasize my loneliness.” – Anaïs Nin, Diary of Anaïs Nin (1931-1974)
“People think being alone makes you lonely, but I don’t think that’s true. Being surrounded by the wrong people is the loneliest thing in the world.” – Kim Culbertson, The Possibility of Now (2016)
“Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.” – May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude (1973)
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.” – Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (1847)
“I have never felt more alone than I do right now, surrounded by people who do not care about me.” – Veronica Roth, Divergent (2011)
“I am lonely, yet not everybody will do. I don’t know why, some people fill the gaps and others emphasize my loneliness.” – Anaïs Nin, Diary of Anaïs Nin (1931-1974)
“I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-1891)
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus, Return to Tipasa (1952)
“Loneliness is a sign you are in desperate need of yourself.” – Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey (2014)
“The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the ‘Living Infinite’.” – Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870)

More Isolation Quotes (The Genius of Solitude)

For the last few years I’ve been editing a 19th century treatise called “The Genius of Solitude.” I already posted the introduction and some of my favorite quotes HERE, but I took some of the longer quotes and turned them into infographics.

I love these, not only for the aesthetic beauty of the writing (I tried to find images to match), but also because I think loneliness, solitude and isolation is an enormous problem in contemporary society – despite our increased connectivity.

If you, like me, resonate with these quotes and want to spread the word, please pick a favorite and share on social media. You can also pin them to relevant Pinterest boards. As the author William Alger writes, there is a great benefit simply in recognizing that these are universally shared human emotions, part of the living experience, not just personal tragedies.

You can feel less isolated just by sharing your experiences with solitude.

Read the introduction to learn the “3 types of wretchedness” that keep creatives from being happy!

Check out The Genius of Solitude on Amazon

Read the introduction to learn the “3 types of wretchedness” that keep creatives from being happy!

Check out The Genius of Solitude on Amazon

Read the introduction to learn the “3 types of wretchedness” that keep creatives from being happy!

Check out The Genius of Solitude on Amazon

Read the introduction to learn the “3 types of wretchedness” that keep creatives from being happy!

Check out The Genius of Solitude on Amazon

Derek Murphy

I’m a philosophy dropout with a PhD in Literature. I covet a cabin full of cats, where I can write fantasy novels to pay for my cake addiction. Sometimes I live in castles.