Saul Bellow Quotes

A pencil and rubber are of more use to thought than a battalion of assistants. To happiness the same applies as to truth: one does not have it, but is in it.

It's when you're not looking for anything that something winds up coming along. It's about learning how to be just with yourself and that you don't need to be in a relationship. You don't need anyone to fulfill you.

We have entered a Moment when we are alone. We cannot get assistance, as before. Well, Mr. Tagomi thought, perhaps that too is good. Or can be made good. One must still try to find the Way.

My goal was to be able to be alone without food, sugar, phone, men, TV, anything and to feel O.K. about myself.

As much I can stay away from people, I remain happy.

I don't lack confidence. I don't sweat. I don't want to get too Zen on you, but I have to run my own race.

In solitude the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself.

I think, if you have enough inner resources, then you can live in isolation for long periods of time and not feel diminished by it.

For me, a happy ending is not everything works out just right and there is a big bow, it's more coming to a place where a person has a clear vision of his or her own life in a way that enables them to kind of throw down their crutches and walk.

I've learnt to be happy by myself.

People think I'm nuts because I can sit in a room and be happy by myself.

Wisdom's daughter walks alone. That didn't just mean without other people, Annabeth realized. It meant without any special powers.

In yourself right now is all the place you've got.

Aloneness is the presence of oneself. Aloneness is very positive... You are so full of presence that you can fill the whole universe with your presence and there is no need for anybody.

I am not a joiner. Somewhere I once said that people join clubs now for the very reason they once carried them, a need for security. Maybe I'm alone more often than I should be, because I try to find security within myself.

The spiritual differs from the religious in being able to endure isolation. The rank of a spiritual person is proportionate to his strength for enduring isolation, whereas we religious people are constantly in need of 'the others,' the herd. We religious folks die, or despair, if we are not reassured by being in the assembly, of the same opinion as the congregation, and so on. But the Christianity of the New Testament is precisely related to the isolation of the spiritual man.

Being alone makes us stronger. That’s the honest truth. But it’s cold comfort, since even if I wanted company no one will come near me anymore.

But if I must be alone, I refuse to be alone as if it were something weak and distasteful, like convalescence.

I lay in bed at night by myself and I’m totally okay, and that’s so much stronger than the person three years ago, who would have thought they would have died if they didn’t have a boyfriend.

A warrior balances solitude and dependence.

We should devote ourselves to being self-sufficient and must not depend upon the external ratings by others for our happiness.

Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You'll find what you need to furnish it - memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey.

Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne, / He travels the fastest who travels alone.

Some women succeed at being strong and also tender, but most of those who have intended to walk alone, making their own way, have lost their happiness.

I learned not to care what other people think.