Virginia Woolf Quotes

To leave in search of yourself, of your real needs, is easier when you don't have to justify yourself to anyone, when there are not too many people bestowing you their attention.

One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone, and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom, for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

Self-discovery is above all the realization that we are alone: it is the opening of an impalpable, transparent wall - that of our consciousness - between the world and ourselves.

I had friends but I was spending a great deal of my time alone and for me that was vital because there's an awful lot you learn about yourself when you're alone.

Life is for each man a solitary cell whose walls are mirrors.

I'm learning a lot about myself being alone, and doing what I'm doing.

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

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

The saint and poet seek privacy to ends the most public and universal: and it is the secret of culture, to interest the man more in his public, than in his private quality.

Be aware that you can truly help people only by aiding them to become what they are, not what you are. I have heard you say 'If I were you, I would do this, or that.' 'I' am never 'you'--and my solutions may not be yours.

I am ready to be alone.

In solitude we realize that nothing human is alien to us.

A person has to be by himself a little bit. We weren’t born in a flock. Togetherness drives me out of my mind.

True individuality can be lonely.

Self-discovery is above all the realization that we are alone.

Loneliness is a prerequisite for freedom. Freedom depends on the ability to reflect, and reflection can only begin when one is alone.

There is some liberation in the freedom of being totally alone and really going for it.

Solitude is the one place where we can gain freedom from the forces of society that will otherwise relentlessly mold us. Solitude requires relentless perseverance.

Lovers are not snails; they don't have to protrude from their shells and meet each other halfway. Meet me within your own self.

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

Oshima's silent for a time as he gazes at the forest, eyes narrowed. Birds are flitting from one branch to the next. His hands are clasped behind his head. "I know how you feel," he finally says. "But this is something you have to work out on your own. Nobody can help you. That's what love's all about, Kafka. You're the one having those wonderful feelings, but you have to go it alone as you wander through the dark. Your mind and body have to bear it all. All by yourself.

I had no place in any coterie, or in any reciprocal self-advertising. I stood alone. I stood outside. I wanted only to learn. I wanted only to write better.

In a place where everyone knew my story, it was nice to know there was a chapter that ONLY I HAD TO READ. :)

Maybe girls need an island to find themselves. Maybe they need a place where no one's is watching them so they can be who they really are