Thomas Merton Quotes

Is there nowhere in an American house where one may be by one's self?

To be left alone is the most precious thing one can ask of the modern world.

My library is my kingdom, and here I try to make my rule absolute-shutting off this single nook from wife, daughter and society. Elsewhere I have only a verbal authority, and vague. Unhappy is the man, in my opinion, who has no spot at home where he can be at home to himself-to court himself and hide away.

I just think everyone needs their own private space.

Sometimes you just need your privacy.

I tend to have to just get away from it all, so it is nice when touring to be able to come home for a week or two and close the door and not really see anybody.

My eyelids are my own private cave, he murmured. That I can go to anytime I want.

I am private.

I just love my privacy.

I walk my dog at dawn because I don't like people to be around.

When I'm not working I try to stay out of the public eye as much as possible.

All my day is spent dealing with other people. When I come home I like it to be empty. The presence of others in my house kind of annoys me. I love coming home and shutting the doors. I feel brain dead. I'm relatively available, but not to live with.

Sometimes I feel it would be nice to have a bit more privacy.

I like semi-torn-down places where I could get nestled in and get something done without anyone bothering me.

I like to be left alone when I'm not working.

I just go in my back garden. It's the only place where people don't come and bother you.

I have Graham Greene's telephone number, but I wouldn't dream of using it. I don't seek out writers because we all want to be alone.

My best vacation is somewhere I could hide, somewhere warm and not a lot of people around.

Weird people follow you in the streets, you can't sit alone in a restaurant or a cafe and read a book in peace, and I think everybody values those moments of being alone.

I always sleep on my own. I can't sleep with somebody else. Always separate bedrooms, bathrooms and closets. I'm very individual and I want my own space.

It's going to seem idiotic to say this, but I think that at a given moment we all need a place to ourselves where we can refuge ourselves and cut ourselves off from the world.

It's hard to just kinda get some privacy and do your own thing.

I don't like being able to be reached. I enjoy my solitude. Even people having my phone number seems like too much.

I like to have space.

I just wanted to have a private life.