I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone.
—Rainer Maria Rilke
We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies into a single self-transcendence; in vain. By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies—all these are private and, except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable. We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes.
—Aldous Huxley in The Doors of Perception
The primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men, necessarily, must avoid: the state of being alone.
—James Baldwin
I had gotten so used to being alone, but never entirely used to it. Never used to it enough to stop wanting the alternative.
—David Levithan in Every You, Every Me
My alone feels so good, I’ll only have you if you’re sweeter than my solitude.
—Warsan Shire
The Internet is like alcohol in some sense. It accentuates what you would do anyway. If you want to be a loner, you can be more alone. If you want to connect, it makes it easier to connect.
—Esther Dyson
At that moment, I missed my mother more than I had ever imagined possible and wanted only to live somewhere quiet and beautiful with her alone, but also at that moment I wanted only to see her lying dead, all withered and in a coffin at my feet.
—Jamaica Kincaid
You have to stop worrying about finding love again. It will come when it comes. Get comfortable with being alone. It will empower you.
—Jonathan Tropper in This is Where I Leave You
Being alone has nothing to do with how many people are around.
—Richard Yates in Revolutionary Road
By all means use some time to be alone.
—Edward Young
If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.
—George Carlin
We're all in this alone.
—Lily Tomlin
Just because I'm quiet doesn't mean I'm aloof. Maybe I just want to be alone. Maybe I'm not good at conversation. We all can't be cool and gregarious and 'Hey, bro what up?' like he apparently is. Some of us aren't wired for that.
—Jenn Bennett in Approximately