Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes

I don't doubt that a man can live perfectly well on his own, but I'm convinced that he begins to die as soon as he closes the door of his house behind him.

Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn In the place of their self-content; There are souls like stars that dwell apart, In a fellowless firmament; There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths Where highways never ran,-- But let me live by the side of the road, And be a friend to man.

Not only is there no question of solitude, but in the long run we may not choose our company.

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.

Loneliness is equal to the radius of one's awareness.

No one can be happy in eternal solitude.

We take our bearings, daily, from others. To be sane is, to a great extent, to be sociable.

I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.

Reading - the best state yet to keep absolute loneliness at bay.

You know you lose a lot of social skills if you're a writer. You spend too long alone. And its forced me to address that.

I like being alone and I think this movie, as much as it is an investigation of connection and people bonding, I also think it's just as much about loneliness.

All of our unhappiness comes from our inability to be alone.

What good is sitting all alone in your room?

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

If you are lonely when you are alone, you are in poor company.

I want to be around people, not crickets.

I'm not very interested in people. I recognize it in myself - there is a basic indifference toward people.

In the past I have never thought about loneliness when working, and I don't think about it now. Yet there must be a reason for the fact that so many people talk about it.

The only way to avoid being unhappy is to close yourself up in Art and to count for nothing all the rest.

I hate being alone, even for 10 minutes.

I have to get out once a week and speak with people or I start thinking I'm the emperor of Abyssinia.

Show me a man who lives alone and has a perpetually clean kitchen, and 8 times out of 9 I'll show you a man with detestable spiritual qualities.

I don't like being alone.

The only time I eat alone is if I'm really tired or upset about something or on the phone to one of my friends, when it's easier to be alone. But you can't be too wrapped up in yourself... it starts making you look a little bit prima donna.