Joshua Slocum Quotes

Isolation offered its own form of companionship

For me, books have always been a way to feel less alone while being alone. Perhaps if I was depressed and isolated, just communicating with these authors through their sentences helped me.

One of the things reading does, it makes your loneliness manageable if you are an essentially lonely person.

I turn to books for a feeling of companionship: for somebody knowing what I have known.

Reading a good book helps us to feel un-alone.

I suppose what one wants really is ideal company and books are ideal company.

The kind of solitude that refreshes and restores is very important, not just for children, not just for adolescents, but for all of us. If you don't teach your children how to be alone they will only be able to be lonely.

If books are not good company, where shall I find it?

As long as we have books, we are not alone.

When everything is lonely I can be my best friend.

Solitude is pleasant. Loneliness is not.

Language... has created the word 'loneliness' to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word 'solitude' to express the glory of being alone.

When you have a lot of solitude, any living thing becomes a companion.

Books support us in our solitude and keep us from being a burden to ourselves.

Experiencing those moments of being alone... is a very, very weird flooring and exposing position to be in when you're just not used to it... But I've never been lonely. And with my kids Mia and Joe that remains the case.

We can all understand that feeling of being alone in the world trying to find ways to not be alone.

Everyone's been lonely at some point and in need of a friend.

All great and precious things are lonely.

We must relearn to be alone.

Loneliness and solitude are two different things. When you are lonely, it is easy to delude yourself into believing that you are on the right path. Solitude is better for us, as it means being alone without feeling lonely. But eventually it is best to find a person, the person who will be your mirror. Remember, only in another person's heart can you truly see yourself and the presence of God within you.

Solitude does not pull us away from our fellow human beings but instead makes real fellowship possible.

For a long time, I was afraid to be alone. I had to learn how to be alone. And there are still times when I think, Uh-oh! I gotta talk to somebody here or I'm gonna go crazy! But I like to be alone. Now I do. I really do. There's a big luxury in solitude.

I am lonely, sometimes, but I dare say it's good for me.

From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack of intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood.

A life without a lonely place, that is, a life without a quiet center, easily becomes destructive. When we cling to the results of our actions as our only way of self-identifiction, then we become possessive and defensive and tend to look at our fellow human beings more as enemies to be kept at a distance than as friends with whom we share the gifts of life.