#solitude

In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it... She stood apart from mortal interests, yet close beside them, like a ghost that revisits the familiar fireside, and can no longer make itself seen or felt. ↗

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

#society #solitude #anxiety

It is this nothingness (in solitude) that I have to face in my solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything in me wants to run to my friends, my work, and my distractions so that I can forget my nothingness and make myself believe that I am worth something. The task is to persevere in my solitude, to stay in my cell until all my seductive visitors get tired of pounding on my door and leave me alone. The wisdom of the desert is that the confrontation with our own frightening nothingness forces us to surrender ourselves totally and unconditionally to the Lord Jesus Christ. ↗

— Henri J.M. Nouwen

#contemporary

solitude begins with a time and a place for God, and God alone. If we really believe not only that God exists but also that God is actively present in our lives-- healing, teaching and guiding-- we need to set aside a time and space to give God our undivided attention. (Matt 6:6) ↗

— Henri J.M. Nouwen

#classics

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

#alone-time #solitude #new-thought

[As a screenwriter] I have a sense of exile from thought, a nostalgia of the quiet room and balanced mind. I am a writer, and there comes a time when that which I write has to belong to me, has to be written alone and in silence, with no one looking over my shoulder, no one telling me a better way to write it. It doesn't have to be great writing, it doesn't even have to be terribly good. It just has to be mine." (A Qualified Farewell) ↗

— Raymond Chandler

#ownership #solitude #writing #writing-craft

Solitude is a chosen separation for refining your soul. Isolation is what you crave when you neglect the first. ↗

— Wayne Cordeiro

#jesus-christ #pastor #pastoral #pastoral-ministry #refuge

Solitude is better than the society of evil persons. ↗

— Abu Bakr

#evil #persons #society #solitude #than

The worst solitude is to have no real friendships. ↗

— Francis Bacon

#real #solitude #worst