Virginia Woolf Quotes

The necessary thing is after all but this; solitude, great inner solitude. Going into oneself for hours meeting no one - this one must be able to attain.

Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it.

There's a difference between solitude and loneliness. I can understand the concept of being a monk for a while.

I do say all I've ever written about is being alone. And most people take that as, 'Oh, that's so sad.' And I always say, 'No. No, all I ever write about is being alone, and sometimes that's a beautiful, beautiful thing.'

Not all of us are called to be hermits, but all of us need enough silence and solitude in our lives to enable the deeper voice of our own self to be heard at least occasionally.

The heart beats louder and the soul hears quicker in silence and solitude.

There is much to be said for solitude.

Sometimes I go for days without speaking to a soul. I think, “I should make that call", but I put it off. Because there’s something pleasurable about not talking. But then I love talking, so it’s not that. But sometimes it can be nice. It’s not like I sit here philosophizing, because I’ve no talent for that. It’s just this thing about silence that’s so wonderful.

There is nothing as certain as silence, stillness, and solitude to introduce you to the secrets of yourself.

I'm smiled out, talked out, quipped out, socialized so far from any being, I need the weight of mortal silences to get realized back into myself.

What is needed is, in the end, simply this: solitude, great inner solitude.

He liked the loneliness of inner space, the sense of being forgotten by the world.

One's need for loneliness is not satisfied if one sits at a table alone. There must be empty chairs as well.

I aspire only to silence.

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

There are places and moments in which one is so completely alone that one sees the world entire.

I was never less alone than when by myself.

Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.

Being alone & actually sitting with our own thoughts can lead to such growth and realizations that are rare in our everyday busy lives.

Sometimes I get lonely, but it's nice to be alone.

Language... has created the word 'loneliness' to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word 'solitude' to express the glory of being alone.

In a sense, I'm always hearing music of some sort, whether it's people talking or surface noise or whatever, because there is no privacy. So when I'm by myself, I just kind of like to be and reflect, and I can't do that when I'm listening to music. Because it's someone else's reflections, not mine.

I've always been drawn to solitude, felt a kind of luxurious relief in its self-generated pace and rhythms.

Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.

All of our great traditions, religious, contemplative and artistic, say that you must a learn how to be alone - and have a relationship with silence. It is difficult, but it can start with just the tiniest quiet moment.