Ask any introvert and they’ll tell you: There’s a difference between being alone and being lonely. But you don’t need to be an introvert to enjoy the solitary pleasure of doing your own thing on your own schedule — the blissful freedom and peace that come from spending time alone.
Sometimes being alone is a way for us to refill our emotional well and give time and space to our thoughts without the buzz of activity that having other people around can bring. It’s also an important step in developing a creative mind. Neuroscientists have discovered that by directing our focus inward during times of solitude, we’re using a different brain network than when we’re engaging with others and directing our attention outward. But it isn’t only artists and creators who can benefit from solitary reflection. We learn about ourselves when we choose to spend time alone — it gives us a chance to explore our thoughts and interests and develop a stronger sense of our own identity.
Whether you live for those times when you can be by yourself or you simply crave a few solitary moments before diving back into the wild rumpus of social life, these quotes about being alone will remind you that, sometimes, we are our own best company.
Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.
— Pablo Picasso
For now she need not think about anybody. She could be herself, by herself. And that was what now she often felt the need of — to think; well not even to think. To be silent; to be alone.
— Virginia Woolf
I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.
— Albert Einstein
I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself.
— Emily Brontë
Some people are alone by circumstance — they’ve lost a loved one, or are enduring a breakup, and others, like me, are alone by choice. I don’t mind being alone. I don’t need to fill up every moment of my day with companionship.
— Amy Sedaris
fall / in love / with your solitude
— Rupi Kaur, poet
I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.
— Henry David Thoreau
Not only is it acceptable to be alone, at times it is positively to be wished for. It is in the interludes between being in company that we talk to ourselves. In the silence we listen to ourselves. Then we ask questions of ourselves. We describe ourselves, and in the quietude we may even hear the voice of God.
— Maya Angelou
Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.
— Nikola Tesla
I have to be alone very often. I'd be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That's how I refuel.
— Audrey Hepburn
I was a man who thrived on solitude; without it I was like another man without food or water. Each day without solitude weakened me.
— Charles Bukowski
I restore myself when I'm alone. A career is born in public — talent in privacy.
— Marilyn Monroe
Do not whine... Do not complain. Work harder. Spend more time alone.
— Joan Didion
What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.
— Ellen Burstyn
Photo credit: Pavel1964/ Shutterstock
