“The more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose.”
Solitude is not the same as loneliness, though they often get confused. This collection explores both — the ache of isolation and the quiet power of being comfortable in your own company. Some of these quotes will make you want to reach out to someone; others will make you want to sit with yourself a while longer.
“Improvisation is almost like the retarded cousin in the comedy world. We've been trying forever to get improvisation on TV. It's just like stand-up. It's best when it's just left alone. It doesn't translate always on TV. It's best live.”
“The more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose.”
“My favorite thing is to be alone in a room with a blank paper in front of me and the time to fill it.”
“I tend to stay up late, not because I'm partying but because it's the only time of the day when I'm alone and don't have to be performing.”
“It helps to be able to be alone. 'Cuz writing is done alone, unless you collaborate, but I don't do that. Ask my ex-wife.”
“I'm not someone who likes to have my picture taken, let alone see it plastered all over the place.”
“Take a course in good water and air and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone no harm will befall you.”
“The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.”
“Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart.”
“Recommend to your children virtue that alone can make them happy, not gold.”
“It's good that the first half of the speech emphasized freedom, because George W. Bush has been the global champion for freedom. As he said, if we don't fight tyranny it will not leave us alone in peace.”
“Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another.”
“All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change.”
“Life certainly points it out to you - 'you can go this way or the other way.' You have to decide and it's a very strong decision because, would you sleep well knowing that you're living in the best place, but you're letting the place where you should live alone?”
“I think it's interesting that 'cologne' rhymes with 'alone.'”
“It is eerie being all but alone in Westminster Abbey. Without the tourists, there are only the dead, many of them kings and queens. They speak powerfully and put my thoughts into vivid perspective.”