Steve Schmidt Quotes

… splendid isolation

The liberty to live for self alone becomes in time a weary bondage.

Isolation is the one sure way to human happiness.

Once I turned eighteen, I could cut myself off from everyone and finally get what I wanted, which was to be on my own, once and for all. ~Ruby, pg 38

He who is alone is happy. Do good to all, like everyone, but do not love anyone. It is a bondage, and bondage brings only misery. Live alone in your mind - that is happiness. To have nobody to care for and never minding who cares for one is the way to be free.

To every man it is decreed: Thou shalt live alone. Happy they who imagine that they have escaped the common lot; happy, whilst they imagine it.

I have never belonged wholeheartedly to country or State, to my circle of friends or even to my own family... Such isolation is sometimes bitter, but I do not regret being cut off from the understanding and sympathy of other men. I lose something by it,to be sure, but I am compensated for it in being rendered independent of the customs, opinions and prejudices of others, and am not tempted to rest my peace of mind upon such shifting foundations.

Not only England, but every Englishman is an island.

Liberty is the possibility of isolation.

A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that gave it wings. Alone must it seek the ether. And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.

She would not exchange her solitude for anything. Never again to be forced to move to the rhythms of others.

When you're alone, it's easier," she said a little wistfully. "You can do what you want. You don't have to go home.

To remain alone did not seem to me a terrible fate, no worse than being falsely joined to another person.

Solitude is independence.

I don't collaborate. You're born alone, you die alone, you get on stage alone.

Remember we're all in this alone.

The task of the solitary man is to be even more solitary.

I should have liked to get married, but over many decades I have lived essentially alone. I go to sleep when I'm tired, get up when I wake up, have my food prepared when I'm hungry. I can't bear the thought that I'd have to coincide, make an effort.

You must learn to exist with no religion, no country, no allies. You must learn to live alone in silence.

You know, one of my fears about living alone so long is that you get used to doing everything your own way.

All my habits through life have been singularly removed from any condition of reliance on others, and the feeling - right or wrong - that aloneness is my proper position has prevailed since my early childhood, no doubt nourished and strengthened by many and quick-following bereavements.

Living by myself out in Malibu has been really good. I kind of have my freedom; I've got a whole house to myself. The tough part comes when sometimes, you know, you get pretty lonely.

I don't belong to anyone.

I don't care about a social life.

I really do work in solitude.