Paul Theroux Quotes

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

Solitude, though it may be silent as light, is like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man. All men come into this world alone and leave it alone.

I guess I am basically most comfortable when I'm alone. As a kid, I was very much a loner. I love long distance running and long distance biking. A director once pointed out that those are all very isolated exercises you do for hours at a time.

My real guru are my experiences in life - the realisation that you are alone in this world came very early to me.

When we are away from home, our only constant companion is our self.

Me, myself and I. That's all I got in the end.

But there it is: Everyone is alone, for life, and maybe that's not such a bad thing.

What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.

Be able to be alone. Lose not the advantage of solitude, and the society of thyself.

If we don't know how to be alone, we'll only know how to be lonely.

I spent a huge amount of time by myself. I daydreamed and learned how to be alone and not be lonely.

I've always been alone. I grew up alone. I like it that way. Even when I'm in an arena surrounded by 10,000 people, I'm alone in my head.

Yes, I do seek solitude, but I am never lonely.

I have learnt to enjoy my own company because I have lived alone many years.

I like to write about the solitary things people do. Humans seem to function best when they're alone.

You discover who you truly are only when you live alone.

We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and -- in spite of True Romance magazines -- we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely -- at least, not all the time -- but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don't see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.

In what concerns you much, do not think that you have companions: know that you are alone in the world.

Alone I'm nothing.

What I was reading was already part of my psyche, but finally someone else was saying it's okay to walk alone.

I've spent so much of my life travelling alone, so I keep things to myself.

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

To live alone is the fate of all great souls.

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