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.

Absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends.

Absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends.

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 was court-martial in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me read more

I was court-martial in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.

Separation penetrates the disappearing person like a pigment and steeps him in gentle radiance.

Separation penetrates the disappearing person like a pigment and steeps him in gentle radiance.

He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything. - read more

He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything. - The Art of Worldly Wisdom, 1647.

Solitude is the playfield of Satan. - Pale Fire, 1962.

Solitude is the playfield of Satan. - Pale Fire, 1962.

Only in solitude do we find ourselves; and in finding ourselves, we find in ourselves all our brothers in solitude. read more

Only in solitude do we find ourselves; and in finding ourselves, we find in ourselves all our brothers in solitude. - Essays and Soliloquies, 1924.

Oh to have a lodge in some vast wilderness. Where rumors of oppression and deceit, of unsuccessful and successful wars read more

Oh to have a lodge in some vast wilderness. Where rumors of oppression and deceit, of unsuccessful and successful wars may never reach me anymore.