Quotes & anectdotes from the wise, the foolish, the courageous & the drunk

being alone

A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people. 27 wisdom & wit from James Madison

Costumes and scenery alone will not attract audiences. 5 more thoughts from Anna Held

Do not rely completely on any other human being, however dear. We meet all life's greatest tests alone. 2 sayings from Agnes Macphail

I alone of English writers have consciously set myself to make music out of what I may call the sound of sense. 50 sayings from Robert Frost

I cannot live under pressures from patrons, let alone paint. 16 views from Michelangelo

I may climb perhaps to no great heights, but I will climb alone. 2 thoughts from Cyrano de Bergerac

If you make friends with yourself you will never be alone. 4 thoughts from Maxwell Maltz

It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely. 105 thoughts from Albert Einstein

Man cannot live by incompetence alone. 3 views from Charlotte Whitton

Others indeed may talk, and write, and fight about liberty, and make an outward pretence to it but the free-thinker alone is truly free. 3 views from George Berkeley

Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone. 5 other sayings from Octavio Paz

The best of artists has no conception that the marble alone does not contain within itself. 16 more sayings from Michelangelo

The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone. 11 thoughts from Henrik Ibsen

The two operations of our understanding, intuition and deduction, on which alone we have said we must rely in the acquisition of knowledge. 11 more sayings from Rene Descartes

We are all sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life. 17 more thoughts from Tennessee Williams

When so many are lonely as seem to be lonely, it would be inexcusably selfish to be lonely alone. 17 thoughts from Tennessee Williams

When the traveler goes alone he gets acquainted with himself. 6 quotes from Liberty Hyde Bailey

Yes, I am seeking a husband. As soon as the right man asks me, I shall say, It is not good for a woman to live alone. 5 wisdom & wit from Anna Held

You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room. 8 quotes from Dr. Seuss

A steady patriot of the world alone, The friend of every country but his own. 3 other sayings from George Canning

Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company. 10 quotes from Booker T. Washington

Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories. 70 quotes from Thomas Jefferson

I was never less alone than when by myself. 14 more wisdom & wit from Edward Gibbon

If we take science as our sole guide, if we accept and hold fast that alone which is verifiable, the old theology must go. 17 other wisdom & wit from John Burroughs

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. 70 other thoughts from Thomas Jefferson

Life could be wonderful if people would leave you alone. 11 other views from Charlie Chaplin

Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust hatred alone is immortal. 38 quotes from William Hazlitt

One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more. 70 other quotes from Thomas Jefferson

Only the lonely know the way I feel tonight. 2 more quotes from Roy Orbison

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. 13 quotes from John Muir

The more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose. 12 quotes from Thornton Wilder

We enter the world alone, we leave the world alone. 7 more quotes from James Anthony Froude

Children, dear and loving children, can alone console a woman for the loss of her beauty. 53 other quotes from Honore de Balzac

Education alone can conduct us to that enjoyment which is, at once, best in quality and infinite in quantity. 11 quotes from Horace Mann

Fail I alone, in words and deeds? Why, all men strive and who succeeds? 22 quotes from Robert Browning

Finds progress, man's distinctive mark alone, Not God's, and not the beast's God is, they are, Man partly is, and wholly hopes to be. 22 views from Robert Browning

For every quarrel a man and wife have before others, they have a hundred when alone. 23 other views from E. W. Howe

Genius begins great works labor alone finishes them. 14 quotes from Joseph Joubert

Health consists with temperance alone. 43 more thoughts from Alexander Pope

I don't want to be alone, I want to be left alone. 14 thoughts from Audrey Hepburn

I never did anything alone. Whatever was accomplished in this country was accomplished collectively. 14 more views from Golda Meir

In the country of pain we are each alone. 3 sayings from May Sarton

It is good taste, and good taste alone, that possesses the power to sterilize and is always the first handicap to any creative functioning. 11 other quotes from Salvador Dali

Know then this truth, enough for man to know virtue alone is happiness below. 43 other quotes from Alexander Pope

Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets. 3 other quotes from Paul Tournier

Picture yourself vividly as winning, and that alone will contribute immeasurably to success. 6 quotes from Harry Emerson Fosdick

Religion is the possibility of the removal of every ground of confidence except confidence in God alone. 6 more wisdom & wit from Karl Barth

This, then, is the test we must set for ourselves not to march alone but to march in such a way that others will wish to join us. 16 sayings from Hubert H. Humphrey

We are so bound together that no man can labor for himself alone. Each blow he strikes in his own behalf helps to mold the universe. 7 quotes from Jerome K. Jerome

Between 1910 and 1950 approximately 350 lives of Jesus were published in the English language alone. 4 other quotes from John Clayton

For each one of us stands alone in the midst of a universe. 3 more wisdom & wit from John Buchanan Robinson

I can't write without a reader. It's precisely like a kiss - you can't do it alone. 9 more wisdom & wit from John Cheever

You are forever alone. 3 sayings from John Buchanan Robinson

Your thoughts and emotions are yours alone. 3 quotes from John Buchanan Robinson

A woman can't be alone. She needs a man. A man and a woman support and strengthen each other. She just can't do it by herself. 53 sayings from Marilyn Monroe

All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone. 57 wisdom & wit from Blaise Pascal

Alone we can do so little together we can do so much. 31 quotes from Helen Keller

I am alone I am always alone no matter what. 53 wisdom & wit from Marilyn Monroe

I restore myself when I'm alone. 53 quotes from Marilyn Monroe

If Galileo had said in verse that the world moved, the inquisition might have let him alone. 14 other views from Thomas Hardy

If I am a legend, then why am I so lonely? 7 quotes from Judy Garland

Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that is where I renew my springs that never dry up. 18 views from Pearl S. Buck

Is it not by love alone that we succeed in penetrating to the very essence of being? 5 more quotes from Igor Stravinsky

It is the fight alone that pleases us, not the victory. 57 quotes from Blaise Pascal

It's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone - so far. 53 wisdom & wit from Marilyn Monroe

It's often just enough to be with someone. I don't need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You're not alone. 53 more quotes from Marilyn Monroe

Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies. 10 more views from Elizabeth Bowen

Love alone could waken love. 18 quotes from Pearl S. Buck

Never to lie is to have no lock on your door, you are never wholly alone. 10 other wisdom & wit from Elizabeth Bowen

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone therefore we are saved by love. 15 more quotes from Reinhold Niebuhr

Often we can help each other most by leaving each other alone at other times we need the hand-grasp and the word of cheer. 59 other quotes from Elbert Hubbard

The light of lights looks always on the motive, not the deed, the shadow of shadows on the deed alone. 28 wisdom & wit from William Butler Yeats

The principal contributor to loneliness in this country is television. What happens is that the family 'gets together' alone. 6 thoughts from Ashley Montagu

The struggle alone pleases us, not the victory. 57 other quotes from Blaise Pascal

There is no end to the violations committed by children on children, quietly talking alone. 10 thoughts from Elizabeth Bowen

Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light. 31 more sayings from Helen Keller

We neither laugh alone, nor weep alone, why then should we pray alone? 3 wisdom & wit from Anna Letitia Barbauld

Time and space - time to be alone, space to move about - these may well become the great scarcities of tomorrow. 3 more sayings from Edwin Way Teale

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone. 117 thoughts from Henry David Thoreau

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost. 7 more thoughts from John Quincy Adams

As a body everyone is single, as a soul never. 10 more quotes from Hermann Hesse

By all means use some time to be alone. 14 quotes from Edward Young

Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us. 31 more quotes from Eric Hoffer

Everything great in the world comes from neurotics. They alone have founded our religions and composed our masterpieces. 18 more thoughts from Marcel Proust

Happiness is spiritual, born of truth and love. It is unselfish therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it. 8 more views from Mary Baker Eddy

I couldn't even go to the bathroom alone. My mother or a social worker always went with me. 4 quotes from Natalie Wood

I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. 117 quotes from Henry David Thoreau

I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best. 5 quotes from Frida Kahlo

Is there no Latin word for Tea? Upon my soul, if I had known that I would have let the vulgar stuff alone. 6 wisdom & wit from Hilaire Belloc

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also. 19 sayings from Carl Jung

Mass transportation is doomed to failure in North America because a person's car is the only place where he can be alone and think. 19 more views from Marshall McLuhan

No face which we can give to a matter will stead us so well at last as the truth. This alone wears well. 117 more views from Henry David Thoreau

The man who goes alone can start today but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready. 117 more thoughts from Henry David Thoreau

There is danger that we lose sight of what our friend is absolutely, while considering what she is to us alone. 117 sayings from Henry David Thoreau

To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals - this alone is worth the struggle. 11 views from William Osler

Virtue alone has majesty in death. 14 thoughts from Edward Young

Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold. 14 sayings from Andre Maurois

A celibate, like the fly in the heart of an apple, dwells in a perpetual sweetness, but sits alone, and is confined and dies in singularity. 8 other thoughts from Jeremy Taylor

All men's misfortunes spring from their hatred of being alone. 26 more quotes from Jean de la Bruyere

All of our unhappiness comes from our inability to be alone. 26 more quotes from Jean de la Bruyere

At the beginning and at the end of love, the two lovers are embarrassed to find themselves alone. 26 wisdom & wit from Jean de la Bruyere

I have grown up alone. I've taken care of myself. I worked, earned money and was independent at 18. 5 wisdom & wit from Ingrid Bergman

I would be married, but I'd have no wife, I would be married to a single life. 5 other wisdom & wit from Charles Bukowski

It's motive alone which gives character to the actions of men. 26 other sayings from Jean de la Bruyere

Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone. 11 other views from Paul Tillich

Man's ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically, because symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate. 11 more views from Paul Tillich

Reason is a crutch for age, but youth is strong enough to walk alone. 17 more sayings from John Dryden

Successful crimes alone are justified. 17 more quotes from John Dryden

We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together. 26 wisdom & wit from Jean de la Bruyere

We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together. 26 more views from Jean de la Bruyere

When thinking about companions gone, we feel ourselves doubly alone. 15 wisdom & wit from Walter Scott

But Socialism, alone, can bring self-determination of their peoples. 4 more quotes from Karl Liebknecht

I would as soon put a girl alone into a closet to meditate as give her only the society of her needle. 8 other sayings from Maria Mitchell

The Jew does not wish to be isolated. He fears being alone, without allies. 4 more sayings from Meir Kahane

We are never the same with others as when we are alone. We are different, even when we are in the dark with them. 10 views from Maurice Maeterlinck

Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one. 6 sayings from Martin Heidegger

I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be left alone.' There is all the difference. 4 other thoughts from Greta Garbo

I want to be alone. 4 quotes from Greta Garbo

I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married. 9 thoughts from Elizabeth I

If man knew how women pass the time when they are alone, they'd never marry. 6 quotes from O. Henry

If men knew how women pass the time when they are alone, they'd never marry. 6 views from O. Henry

It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone. 90 other wisdom & wit from Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Man alone is born crying, lives complaining, and dies disappointed. 63 sayings from Samuel Johnson

No harm comes to man from outside alone: dumbness is the objective spirit. 26 views from Theodor Adorno

No woman can be handsome by the force of features alone, any more that she can be witty by only the help of speech. 27 quotes from Kin Hubbard

Slump, and the world slumps with you. Push, and you push alone. 21 more quotes from Laurence J. Peter

The methods by which a trade union can alone act, are necessarily destructive its organization is necessarily tyrannical. 4 quotes from Henry George

True thoughts are those alone which do not understand themselves. 26 wisdom & wit from Theodor Adorno

The athlete of today is not an athlete alone. He's the center of a team - doctors, scientists, coaches, agents and so on. 6 thoughts from Emil Zatopek

A man content to go to heaven alone will never go to heaven. 3 wisdom & wit from Boethius

Be able to be alone. Lose not the advantage of solitude, and the society of thyself. 8 thoughts from Thomas Browne

Before the throne of the Almighty, man will be judged not by his acts but by his intentions. For God alone reads our hearts. 100 quotes from Mahatma Gandhi

Death is the mother of Beauty hence from her, alone, shall come fulfillment to our dreams and our desires. 16 wisdom & wit from Wallace Stevens

God created man and, finding him not sufficiently alone, gave him a companion to make him feel his solitude more keenly. 16 quotes from Paul Valery

I grew up in a very large family in a very small house. I never slept alone until after I was married. 2 more quotes from Lewis Grizzard

I knew I was alone in a way that no earthling has ever been before. 2 quotes from Michael Collins

It is the unknown that excites the ardor of scholars, who, in the known alone, would shrivel up with boredom. 16 thoughts from Wallace Stevens

Journalists do not live by words alone, although sometimes they have to eat them. 24 views from Adlai E. Stevenson

Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both. 30 other thoughts from Eleanor Roosevelt

Life is only a long and bitter suicide, and faith alone can transform this suicide into a sacrifice. 4 quotes from Franz Liszt

Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them. 24 more quotes from Adlai E. Stevenson

Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts into physical reality man, alone, can dream and make his dreams come true. 28 wisdom & wit from Napoleon Hill

Other nations use 'force' we Britons alone use 'Might'. 3 quotes from Evelyn Waugh

Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter. 103 quotes from Friedrich Nietzsche

The doer alone learneth. 103 more quotes from Friedrich Nietzsche

The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedoms. 6 quotes from William O. Douglas

To be adult is to be alone. 13 other thoughts from Jean Rostand

Your actions, and your action alone, determines your worth. 3 thoughts from Evelyn Waugh

Ah, mon cher, for anyone who is alone, without God and without a master, the weight of days is dreadful. 52 other quotes from Albert Camus

Blood alone moves the wheels of history. 32 more quotes from Martin Luther

Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone. 19 quotes from Charles de Gaulle

Every man must do two things alone he must do his own believing and his own dying. 32 quotes from Martin Luther

God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars. 32 thoughts from Martin Luther

Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart. 32 thoughts from Martin Luther

He alone is free who lives with free consent under the entire guidance of reason. 18 sayings from Baruch Spinoza

He who does not fill his world with phantoms remains alone. 4 quotes from Antonio Porchia

Let your mind alone, and see what happens. 3 sayings from Virgil Thomson

Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone, but primarily by catchwords. 39 other thoughts from Robert Louis Stevenson

Only that thing is free which exists by the necessities of its own nature, and is determined in its actions by itself alone. 18 quotes from Baruch Spinoza

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime. 32 sayings from Martin Luther

The only real progress lies in learning to be wrong all alone. 52 wisdom & wit from Albert Camus

The strong man is strongest when alone. 29 more sayings from Friedrich Schiller

The true and solid peace of nations consists not in equality of arms, but in mutual trust alone. 9 quotes from Pope John XXIII

The want of logic annoys. Too much logic bores. Life eludes logic, and everything that logic alone constructs remains artificial and forced. 22 quotes from Andre Gide

The words of the Bible, and the Bible alone, should be heard from the pulpit. 3 quotes from Ellen G. White

Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable. 78 wisdom & wit from Voltaire

We are rarely proud when we are alone. 78 wisdom & wit from Voltaire

Trust him not with your secrets, who, when left alone in your room, turns over your papers. 6 other quotes from Johann Kaspar Lavater

You may tell a man thou art a fiend, but not your nose wants blowing to him alone who can bear a thing of that kind, you may tell all. 6 quotes from Johann Kaspar Lavater

An artist is always alone - if he is an artist. No, what the artist needs is loneliness. 23 quotes from Henry Miller

Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine By which alone the mortal heart is led Unto the thinking of the thought divine. 46 quotes from George Santayana

Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by action alone. 58 more quotes from Thomas Carlyle

Down to Gehenna, or up to the Throne, He travels the fastest who travels alone. 12 quotes from Rudyard Kipling

He travels the fastest who travels alone. 12 thoughts from Rudyard Kipling

I don't like to work with assistants. I'm already one too many the camera alone would be enough. 2 more sayings from Alfred Eisenstaedt

I have the handicap of being born with a special language to which I alone have the key. 30 more quotes from Gustave Flaubert

I think Mr. Wilson will have to be the rest of the way alone. 7 quotes from Flip Wilson

I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone. 9 other quotes from Rainer Maria Rilke

None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone. 58 quotes from Thomas Carlyle

Schizophrenia beats dining alone. 4 more views from Oscar Levant

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. 14 wisdom & wit from Joseph Conrad

The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history. 12 other views from Mao Zedong

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few. 26 other quotes from Emily Dickinson

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal. 5 views from Albert Pike

Work alone is noble. 58 quotes from Thomas Carlyle

As regards parents, I should like to see them as highly educated as possible, and I do not restrict this remark to fathers alone. 12 wisdom & wit from Quintilian

Better be alone than in bad company. 45 quotes from Thomas Fuller

Don't go away. I don't want to be alone. I can't stand being alone. 2 other wisdom & wit from Arnold Rothstein

Every animal leaves traces of what it was man alone leaves traces of what he created. 6 views from Jacob Bronowski

Forbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately when lawful, they do not excite desire. 12 other wisdom & wit from Quintilian

He who studies books alone will know how things ought to be, and he who studies men will know how they are. 30 quotes from Charles Caleb Colton

I have nothing to hide in art. The initial force alone can bring anyone to the end he must attain. 23 quotes from Paul Cezanne

I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone. 36 more quotes from Lord Byron

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another. 12 thoughts from Thomas Merton

Men, even when alone, lighten their labors by song, however rude it may be. 12 other sayings from Quintilian

On stage I make love to twenty five thousand people and then I go home alone. 5 more wisdom & wit from Janis Joplin

On stage, I make love to 25,000 different people, then I go home alone. 5 other quotes from Janis Joplin

One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork. 10 more quotes from Edward Abbey

Recommend to your children virtue that alone can make them happy, not gold. 12 more quotes from Ludwig van Beethoven

Recommend virtue to your children it alone, not money, can make them happy. I speak from experience. 12 other quotes from Ludwig van Beethoven

Rigid, the skeleton of habit alone upholds the human frame. 30 more views from Virginia Woolf

The man of genius is he and he alone who finds such joy in his art that he will work at it come hell or high water. 14 quotes from Stendhal

Then stirs the feeling infinite, so felt In solitude, where we are least alone. 36 views from Lord Byron

There are places and moments in which one is so completely alone that one sees the world entire. 6 other quotes from Jules Renard

To Follow by faith alone is to follow blindly. 96 sayings from Benjamin Franklin

We learn about life not from plusses alone, but from minuses as well. 19 other wisdom & wit from Anton Chekhov

Absolute truth belongs to Thee alone. 3 quotes from Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Eagles commonly fly alone. They are crows, daws, and starlings that flock together. 3 views from John Webster

I have Graham Greene's telephone number, but I wouldn't dream of using it. I don't seek out writers because we all want to be alone. 5 wisdom & wit from Patricia Highsmith

'Tis the last rose of summer Left blooming alone All her lovely companions Are faded and gone. 5 other quotes from Thomas More

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone. 29 thoughts from Arthur Schopenhauer

Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation for it is better to be alone than in bad company. 30 views from George Washington

At the moment of childbirth, every woman has the same aura of isolation, as though she were abandoned, alone. 3 wisdom & wit from Boris Pasternak

Being an actor is the loneliest thing in the world. You are all alone with your concentration and imagination, and that's all you have. 8 quotes from James Dean

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal. 29 more wisdom & wit from Arthur Schopenhauer

I can't really define it in sexual terms alone although our sexuality is so energizing why not enjoy it too? 9 quotes from Audre Lorde

I'm a workaholic. Before long I'm traveling on my nervous energy alone. This is incredibly exhausting. 6 quotes from Eva Gabor

In Genesis, it says that it is not good for a man to be alone but sometimes it is a great relief. 12 quotes from John Barrymore

Is he alone who has courage on his right hand and faith on his left hand? 6 other thoughts from Charles Lindbergh

It is better to be alone than in bad company. 30 more quotes from George Washington

It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company. 30 thoughts from George Washington

It is very easy to love alone. 31 wisdom & wit from Gertrude Stein

Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone. 2 other views from Anthony Burgess

No one can arrive from being talented alone, work transforms talent into genius. 5 sayings from Anna Pavlova

Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone. 24 quotes from Ayn Rand

The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions. 24 more views from James Russell Lowell

The progress of evolution from President Washington to President Grant was alone evidence to upset Darwin. 22 other quotes from Henry Adams

To live alone is the fate of all great souls. 29 quotes from Arthur Schopenhauer

When they are alone they want to be with others, and when they are with others they want to be alone. After all, human beings are like that. 31 quotes from Gertrude Stein

Work, apart from devotion or love of God, is helpless and cannot stand alone. 10 more quotes from Ramakrishna

No man is an island. No man stands alone. 3 quotes from Dennis Brown

Why can't everybody leave everybody else the hell alone. 2 quotes from Jimmy Durante