How glorious it is -- and also how painful -- to be an exception.

How glorious it is -- and also how painful -- to be an exception.

Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character. - Among My Books, 1870.

Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character. - Among My Books, 1870.

Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone. - read more

Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone. - The Labyrinth of Solitude, 1950.

There are places and moments in which one is so completely alone that one sees the world entire. - Journal, read more

There are places and moments in which one is so completely alone that one sees the world entire. - Journal, December, 1900.

I'm still the little southern girl from the wrong side of the tracks who really didn't feel like she belonged.

I'm still the little southern girl from the wrong side of the tracks who really didn't feel like she belonged.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

In solitude, be a multitude to thyself. Tibullus by all means use sometimes to be alone.

In solitude, be a multitude to thyself. Tibullus by all means use sometimes to be alone.

We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.

We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.

To dare to live alone is the rarest courage; since there are many who had rather meet their bitterest enemy read more

To dare to live alone is the rarest courage; since there are many who had rather meet their bitterest enemy in the field, than their own hearts in their closet. - Lacon, 1825.