This is to be along; this, this is solitude!

This is to be along; this, this is solitude!

There is a society in the deepest solitude.

There is a society in the deepest solitude.

Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.

Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.

Whoever gives himself up to solitude,
Ah! he is soon alone.
[Ger., Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergiebt,
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Whoever gives himself up to solitude,
Ah! he is soon alone.
[Ger., Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergiebt,
Ach! der ist bald allein.]

But 'midst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men,
To hear, to see, to feel, and to possess,
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But 'midst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men,
To hear, to see, to feel, and to possess,
And roam along, the world's tired denizen,
With none who bless us, none whom we can bless.

O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap
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O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap
Of murky buildings: climb with me the steep,--
Nature's observatory--whence the dell,
In flowery slopes, its river's crystal swell,
May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep
'Mongst boughs pavilion'd, where the deer's swift leap
Startles the wild bee from the foxglove bell.

Solitude would be ideal if you could pick the people to avoid.

Solitude would be ideal if you could pick the people to avoid.

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife.

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife.

Loneliness is and always has been the central and inevitable experience of every man.

Loneliness is and always has been the central and inevitable experience of every man.