Samuel Johnson Solitude Quotations

In solitude we have our dreams to ourselves, and in company we agree to dream in concert.

To talk in public, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire and answer inquiries, is the business of the scholar

If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary be not idle.

When female minds are embittered by age or solitude, their malignity is generally exerted in a rigorous and spiteful superintendence of domestic trifles.

Solitude is dangerous to reason, without being favorable to virtue. Remember that the solitary mortal is certainly luxurious, probably superstitious, and possibly mad.

To live without feeling or exciting sympathy, to be fortunate without adding to the felicity of others, or afflicted without tasting the balm of pity, is a state more gloomy than solitude; it is not retreat, but exclusion from mankind. Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.

It may be laid down as a position which seldom deceives, that when a man cannot bear his own company, there is something wrong.

Study requires solitude, and solitude is a state dangerous to those who are too much accustomed to sink into themselves

The seeds of knowledge may be planted in solitude, but must be cultivated in public.

The life of a solitary man will be certainly miserable, but not certainly devout.

The love of retirement has in all ages adhered closely to those minds which have been most enlarged by knowledge, or elevated by genius. Those who enjoyed everything generally supposed to confer happiness have been forced to seek it in the shades of privacy.