Simon Mawer Quotes

It is good to be solitary, for solitude is difficult; that something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it.

Early on, I played one or two disturbed people, and I guess I must have been good at it, because it stuck. But, you know, I'm a regular guy. I stay home a lot, I make an effort to keep a distance from the whole social thing, the openings, the parties. I try to live in a calm way.

The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.

While one finds company in himself and his pursuits, he cannot feel old, no matter what his years may be.

I think I've got better at expressing my emotions. But going through the education system I went through - I don't think you can go to boarding school and come out without feeling a little repressed - yes, it does leave its mark on you.

Having no contemporaries left means you cannot say, 'Well, so-and-so will like this,' which you do when you're younger. You realize there is no so-and-so anymore. You are your own so-and-so. There is a bleak side to it.

I was writing from the age of 10, and I was never really into going to discos and dances and stuff. I never told anyone at school that I did that because I feared it would alienate me even more.

I got in touch with the creative process between the age of 14 and 16, mainly because I was alone so much.

Never be the only one, except, possibly, in your own home.

I'm a bit of a recluse, very fond of my own company.

I remember being alone a lot as a child, and I still love to be alone.

Isolation is the one sure way to human happiness.

But I was a sensitive kid. A funny kid, and a perceptive one. There was a lot of time spent alone.

Writing is, of course, a solitary occupation. But for many writers, myself included, it's through writing that we make certain vital connections.

But I'm more of a recluse when it comes down to being a writer and being a creative person rather than being a celebrity.

Regard yourself as a small corporation of one. Take yourself off on team-building exercises (long walks). Hold a Christmas party every year at which you stand in the corner of your writing room, shouting very loudly to yourself while drinking a bottle of white wine. Then masturbate under the desk. The following day you will feel a deep and cohering sense of embarrassment.

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

If we don't teach kids how to be alone, they will end up only lonely.

There was more of a flow to my output of writing in the past, certainly. Having no contemporaries left means you cannot say, "Well, so-and-so will like this," which you do when you're younger. You realize there is no so-and-so anymore. You are your own so-and-so. There is a bleak side to it.

sometimes i'd wake up at two or three in the morning and not be able to fall asleep again. i'd get out of bed, go to the kitchen, and pour myself a whiskey. glass in hand, i'd look down at the darkened cemetary across teh way and the headlights of the cars on the road. the moments of time linking night and dawn were long and dark. if i could cry, it might make things easier. but what would i cry over? i was too self centered to cry for other people, too old to cry for myself.

There was nothing to react to except wind and trees [in Cast Away]. It was like making a silent movie.

Solitude never hurt anyone. Emily Dickinson lived alone, and she wrote some of the most beautiful poetry the world has ever known... then went crazy as a loon." Lisa Simpson

Boxers are very isolated - or isolated within their own camps.

The greatest genius is never so great as when it is chastised and subdued by the highest reason.

I've been living alone for so long, everything about me’s private. I’m surprised anyone’s able to understand a word I say.