Shelby Foote Quotes

I learned to basically pull my own weight, just do my own thing. I spent a lot of time alone and I loved it. It was actually really great because to the present day I love spending time alone. I go bicycling alone, go climbing alone and I just love being with myself and observing myself and learning something.

I had friends but I was spending a great deal of my time alone and for me that was vital because there's an awful lot you learn about yourself when you're alone.

Writing is a tribute to solitude. It is choosing introversion over extroversion, lonely hours/days/weeks/years over fun and sociability.

Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder.

If you spend enough time with yourself in silence, you'll be surprised what goes through your head.

I had to learn - since I'm divorced now and everyone is like, 'Oh my God, you're single, what's going on?' - that if I don't like to spend time with myself, how can I ask someone else to enjoy spending time with me? I'm getting to learn how to enjoy my solitude and have a good time.

So it is necessary that we should learn to be alone.

I spent a lot of my childhood in my own head, making up stories. I didn't have a lot of outside influences, so I was able to make my own decisions about what I wanted to do.

A writer needs a life of introspection.

You only grow when you are alone.

We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly - spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity to renew itself and create order.

The only time a man thinks is when he's alone.

I enjoy my own thoughts sometimes.

I had a lot of alone time with no brothers or sisters running around, or anything. I would just sit and imagine things, all the time.

It's interesting that reading, like listening to podcasts, is a lone pursuit, one where we keep our mouths shut and let someone else do the talking. Where we absorb rather than emit. By occasionally isolating ourselves, we can more successfully, more generously, socialise.

I use solitude as a judge and as a person - a lot.

Woe unto him that is never alone, and cannot bear to be alone.

I've never just been able to be alone, and I'm obsessed with being alone and hearing my thoughts. I'm trying to take this alone time — the five minutes I do have a day — to learn as much as I can.

People don't acknowledge loneliness in themselves, and don't appreciate its benefits, the reflection and attentiveness that come with it, the deepened acquaintance with oneself.

It is important from time to time to slow down, to go away by yourself, and simply be.

A great reader seldom recognizes his solitude.

One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude.

The time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself.

A creation of importance can only be produced when its author isolates himself, it is a child of solitude.

It's important to have quiet time and isolation.