I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of read more

I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of the other

Alone!--That worn-out word,
So idly spoken, and so coldly heard;
Yet all that poets sing, and grief read more

Alone!--That worn-out word,
So idly spoken, and so coldly heard;
Yet all that poets sing, and grief hath known,
Of hope laid waste, knells in that word--Alone!

Converse with men makes sharp the glittering wit,
But God to man doth speak in solitude.

Converse with men makes sharp the glittering wit,
But God to man doth speak in solitude.

Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea.

Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea.

Nobody with me at sea but myself.

Nobody with me at sea but myself.

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.

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

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

I am as one who is left alone at a banquet, the lights dead and
the flowers faded.

I am as one who is left alone at a banquet, the lights dead and
the flowers faded.

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and read more

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.