74 Solitude Quotes to Enlighten You on Its Value

Solitude can seem like an elusive concept with the hyperconnected state much of society is in lately. But it is an essential part of having a healthy and balanced life. If you’re unable to see the value of solitude, there are several quotes to convince you.

Solitude is an essential aspect of being a healthy and happy human being. Intentional solitude is often linked with greater life satisfaction and mental well-being.

If you’re an extrovert, it could be difficult to find value in spending intentional time by yourself when you gain a lot of energy from socializing with other people.

But the truth is, it’s not necessary to spend hours or even days alone to gain benefits from being by yourself. A simple 20 to 30 minutes a day can bring you the benefits you need to gain greater self-satisfaction and happiness from your solitude.

If you need some convincing on the benefits of solitude, here are several quotes to help you understand its lasting value.

Edward Gibbon’s quote: “Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.” | Image: Amodays

Solitude is good for the mind

“The thoughtful soul to solitude retires.” — Omar Khayyam

“In solitude, I find my answers.” — Kristen Butler

“Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius”. — Edward Gibbon

“Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.” — Pablo Picasso

“One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Thomas Edison’s quote: “The best thinking has been done in solitude.” | Image: Amodays

“Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.” — Albert Einstein

“In solitude, the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself.” — Lawrence Sterne

"We need solitude because when we’re alone, we’re free from obligations, we don’t need to put on a show, and we can hear our own thoughts.” —Tamim Ansary

“As regards intellectual work it remains a fact, indeed, that great decisions in the realm of thought and momentous discoveries and solutions of problems are only possible to an individual, working in solitude.” — Sigmund Freud

"The best thinking has been done in solitude” — Thomas A. Edison

Charles Bukowski‘s quote: “They simply never understand, do they, that sometimes solitude is one of the most beautiful things on earth?”| Image: Amodays

SOLITUDE IS BEAUTY

“Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.” — James Russell Lowell

“A writer takes earnest measures to secure his solitude and then finds endless ways to squander it.” — Don DeLillo

”Solitude is the soil in which genius is planted, creativity grows, and legends bloom; faith in oneself is the rain that cultivates a hero to endure the storm, and bare the genesis of a new world, a new forest.” — Mike Norton

”In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.” — Rollo May

”People who do a job that claims to be creative have to be alone to recharge their batteries. You can’t live 24 hours a day in the spotlight and remain creative. For people like me, solitude is a victory.” — Karl Lagerfeld

Susan Cain’s quote: Solitude is a catalyst for innovation.” | Image: Amodays

“To go out with the setting sun on an empty beach is to truly embrace your solitude.” — Jeanne Moreau

“Solitude has its own very strange beauty to it.” — Liv Tyler

“Solitude is a catalyst for innovation.” — Susan Cain’

“I try to factor solitude into my life because more and more, that’s becoming a very precious and rare commodity.” — Robyn Davidson

“Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.” —Henry Rollins

Jeanne Moreau’s quote: “To go out with the setting sun on an empty beach is to truly embrace your solitude.” | Image: Amodays

“I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

SOLITUDE IS POWER

We live in a very tense society. We are pulled apart… and we all need to learn how to pull ourselves together… I think that at least part of the answer lies in solitude. — Helen Hayes

“Your solitude will be a support and a home for you, even in the midst of very unfamiliar circumstances, and from it, you will find all your paths.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

“Solitude is dangerous. It’s very addictive. It becomes a habit after you realize how peaceful and calm it is. It’s like you don’t want to deal with people anymore because they drain your energy.” — Jim Carrey

“True solitude is found in the wild places, where one is without human obligation. One’s inner voices become audible… In consequence, one responds more clearly to other lives.” — Wendell Berry

Francis Bacon’s quote: “Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.” | Image: Amodays

“Sometimes, the most profound of awakenings come wrapped in the quietest of moments.” — Stephen Crane

“Solitude is independence.” — Hermann Hesse

“Men fear silence as they fear solitude because both give them a glimpse of the terror of life’s nothingness.” — Andre Maurois

“Solitude is the place of purification and transformation, the place of the great struggle and the great encounter.” — Henri Nouwen

“Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.” — Francis Bacon

Blaise Pascal’s quote: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” | Image: Amodays

"Solitude appeared to me as the only fit state of man.” — Walter Benjamin

“Great men are like eagles and build their nest on some lofty solitude.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

“Being alone and actually sitting with our own thoughts can lead to such growth and realizations that are rare in our everyday busy lives.” — Kourtney Kardashian

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” — Blaise Pasca

”We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly – spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity to renew itself and create order.” — Susan L. Taylor

Kourtney Kardashian’s quote: “Being alone and actually sitting with our own thoughts can lead to such growth and realizations that are rare in our everyday busy lives.” | Image: Amodays

“There are days when solitude is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall.” — Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

“Some of us are born to a solitary life.” — Philippa Gregory

“He who understands humanity seeks solitude.” — Ali ibn Abi Talib

SOLITUDE IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL

“I’m fascinated with myself and love hearing the sound of my own voice. I’d like to hear what I have to say. A lot of people don’t like being alone because they truly don’t like themselves, but I love me.” — Gene Simmons

"Sometimes you need to take a break from everyone and spend time alone, to experience, appreciate, and love yourself.” — Robert Tew

Nikki Rowe’s quote:“Solitude is where I place my chaos to rest and awaken my inner peace.” | Image: Amodays

“Spend some time alone. There’s so much you don’t know about yourself.” — Thibaut

“In solitude, listen to your heart, for at that moment, it speaks nothing but the truth.” — Michael Bassey Johnson

“Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.” — May Sarton

“Your inner voice is the voice of divinity. To hear it, we need to be in solitude, even in crowded places”.— A. R. Rahman

“Solitude, in these days as much as ever, is an absolute necessity.” — Leo Babauta

Katrina Kenison’s quote: “Solitude is the soul’s holiday, an opportunity to stop doing for others and to surprise and delight ourselves instead.” | Image: Amodays

“Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe.” — Lao Tzu

“In solitude, one finds only what he carries there with him.” — Juan Ramon Jimenez

“Solitude is where I place my chaos to rest and awaken my inner peace.” — Nikki Rowe

“You don’t need to be a monk to find solitude, nor do you need to be a hermit to enjoy it.” — Leo Babauta

“Solitude is like punctuation. A paragraph without periods and commas would be exhausting to read”. — Arnie Kozak

Marty Rubin’s quote: “Solitude is where one discovers one is not alone.” | Image: Amodays

“Solitude is not the absence of company, but the moment when our soul is free to speak to us and help us decide what to do with our life.” — Paolo Coelho

“In stillness lives wisdom. In quiet, you’ll find peace. In solitude you’ll remember yourself.” — Robin Sharma

"The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude.” — Voltaire

“Solitude is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it." — Deepak Chopra

“Solitude is the soul’s holiday, an opportunity to stop doing for others and to surprise and delight ourselves instead.” — Katrina Kenison

Albert Einstein’s quote:“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.” | Image: Amodays

“Solitude is where one discovers one is not alone.” — Marty Rubin

“Sometimes the solitary voice can be the best one.” — Frank Miller

“By all means use sometimes to be alone. Salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear.” — George Herbert

“A little while alone in your room will prove more valuable than anything else that could ever be given to you.” — Rumi

“Solitude helps you find peace. Peace helps you find happiness.” — Maxime Lagacé

Paul Tillich’s quote: “Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.” | Image: Amodays

“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity” — Albert Einstein

“I can be alone without being lonely. In fact, those times of solitude are necessary respite for a beleaguered soul, set upon by the pressures of life. I need to take whatever moments I can to just be still." ― Steve Goodier

“Solitude vivifies; isolation kills.” — Joseph Roux

“To live alone is the fate of all great souls.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

“Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.” — Paul Tillich

Arthur Schopenhauer’s quote: “To live alone is the fate of all great souls.” | Image: Amodays

“Sometimes you need to sit lonely on the floor in a quiet room in order to hear your own voice and not let it drown in the noise of others.” — Charlotte Eriksson

SOLITUDE IS CONNECTION

“Solitude is very different from a ‘time-out’ from our busy lives. Solitude is the very ground from which community grows. Whenever we pray alone, study, read, write, or simply spend quiet time away from the places where we interact with each other directly, we are potentially opened for a deeper intimacy with each other.” — Henri Nouwen

“Once you know how to take care of yourself, company becomes an option.” — Keanu Reeves

“Solitude is a lost art in these days of ultra-connectedness.” — Leo Babauta

“What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.” — Ellen Burstyn

Victoria Erickson’s quote: “Solitude isn’t loneliness. Solitude is when the entire serene universe seems to surround and hold you quietly.” | Image: Amodays

“Solitude sometimes is best society.” — John Milton

“I think it’s good for a person to spend time alone. It gives them an opportunity to discover who they are and to figure out why they are always alone.” — Amy Sedari

“Only in solitude do we find ourselves; and in finding ourselves, we find in ourselves all our brothers in solitude.” — Miguel de Unamuno

“Solitude isn’t loneliness. Solitude is when the entire serene universe seems to surround and hold you quietly.” — Victoria Erickson

Ellen Burstyn’s quote: “What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.” | Image: Amodays

There are different times of the day during which it is best to be alone, it all depends on your personality and your preferences.

In the mornings, you could wake up, journal, reflect on the previous day, how you feel at the moment, and think about what you’d like to accomplish.

In the evenings, you could read alone and process the day. You could also think about the day or week ahead and use the time to decompress.

If these quotes helped you see the value of solitude, these quotes will teach you the art of maturity.