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Henry David Thoreau Quotes about Solitude

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I have lately got back to that glorious society called Solitude.

I have lately got back to that glorious society called Solitude.

Henry David Thoreau
Solitude, Glorious
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1861, Delphi Classics

A bore is someone who takes away my solitude and doesn't give me companionship in return.

Henry David Thoreau
Giving, Solitude, Return

As for the dispute about solitude and society, any comparison is impertinent. It is an idling down on the plane at the base of a mountain, instead of climbing steadily to its top.

Henry David Thoreau
Climbing, Solitude, Society
Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Familiar Letters (Annotated Edition)”, p.218, Jazzybee Verlag

As for men, they will hardly fail one anywhere. I had more visitors while I lived in the woods than at any other period of my life; I mean that I had some.

Henry David Thoreau
Mean, Men, Solitude
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.87, Simon and Schuster

The doctors are all agreed that I am suffering for want of society. Was never a case like it. First, I did not know that I was suffering at all. Secondly, as an Irishman might say, I had thought it was indigestion of the society I got.

Henry David Thoreau
Doctors, Solitude, Suffering
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1861, Delphi Classics

The man of genius, like a dog with a bone, or the slave who has swallowed a diamond, or a patient with the gravel, sits afar and retired, off the road, hangs out no sign of refreshment for man and beast, but says, by all possible hints and signs, I wish to be alone,--good-by,--fare-well. But the Landlord can afford to live without privacy.

Henry David Thoreau
Dog, Men, Solitude
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1020, Delphi Classics

It would be better if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile, as where I live.

Henry David Thoreau
Squares, Solitude, Would Be
Henry David Thoreau (2015). “Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience: Top American Literary”, p.85, 谷月社

I thrive best on solitude. If I have had a companion only one day in a week, unless it were one or two I could name, I find that the value of the week to me has been seriously affected. It dissipates my days, and often it takes me another week to get over it.

Henry David Thoreau
Names, Two, Solitude
Henry David Thoreau, Jeffrey S. Cramer (2007). “I to Myself: An Annotated Selection from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau”, p.298, Yale University Press

There is commonly sufficient space about us. Our horizon is never quite at our elbows.

Henry David Thoreau
Space, Solitude, Horizon
Henry David Thoreau (2015). “Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience: Top American Literary”, p.81, 谷月社

I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. [It allows you to] be the Mungo Park, the Lewis and Clark of your own streams and oceans; [to] explore your own higher latitudes; [to] be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.

Henry David Thoreau
Ocean, Solitude, Parks

I have an immense appetite for solitude, like an infant for sleep, and if I don't get enough for this year, I shall cry all the next.

Henry David Thoreau
Sleep, Years, Solitude
Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Familiar Letters (Annotated Edition)”, p.242, Jazzybee Verlag

After reading Howitt's account of the Australian gold-diggings one evening,... I asked myself why I might not be washing some golddaily, though it were only the finest particles,--why I might not sink a shaft down to the gold within me, and work that mine.... At any rate, I might pursue some path, however solitary and narrow and crooked, in which I could walk with love and reverence.

Henry David Thoreau
Wisdom, Reading, Solitude
Henry David Thoreau (2012). “Civil Disobedience and Other Essays”, p.81, Courier Corporation

Why should not our whole life and its scenery be actually thus fair and distinct? All our lives want a suitable background. They should at least, like the life of the anchorite, be as impressive to behold as objects in a desert, a broken shaft or crumbling mound against a limitless horizon.

Henry David Thoreau
Life, Broken, Solitude
Henry David Thoreau, Jeffrey S. Cramer (2007). “I to Myself: An Annotated Selection from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau”, p.17, Yale University Press

Individuals, like nations, must have suitable broad and natural boundaries, even a considerable neutral ground, between them.

Henry David Thoreau
Solitude, Independence, Boundaries
Henry David Thoreau (1882). “Walden”, p.219

What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary?

Henry David Thoreau
Men, Space, Solitude
Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.226, Penguin

To meet the objections of some inveterate cavillers, I may as well state, that if I dined out occasionally, as I always had done,and I trust shall have opportunities to do again, it was frequently to the detriment of my domestic arrangements.

Henry David Thoreau
Opportunity, Solitude, Done
Henry David Thoreau (1882). “Walden”, p.97

I think that I love society as much as most, and am ready enough to fasten myself like a bloodsucker for the time to any full-blooded man that comes in my way. I am naturally no hermit, but might possibly sit out the sturdiest frequenter of the bar-room, if my business called me thither.

Henry David Thoreau
Men, Thinking, Solitude
Henry David Thoreau (1882). “Walden”, p.218

Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows.

Henry David Thoreau
Men, Space, Solitude
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.388, Delphi Classics

Wherever you may seek solitude, men will ferret you out and compel you to belong to their desperate company of oddfellows.

Henry David Thoreau
Men, Solitude, Ferrets

I have lately got back to that glorious society called Solitude, where we meet our friends continually, and can imagine the outside world also to be peopled. Yet some of my acquaintance would fain hustle me into the almshouse for the sake of society, as if I were pining for that diet, when I seem to myself a most befriended man, and find constant employment. However, they do not believe a word I say.

Henry David Thoreau
Believe, Men, Solitude
Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.376, Penguin

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