Solitude and Silence

Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition.
– Octavio Paz, Nobel Laureate

Mali

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.
– Paul Tillich

India

We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private:
and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.
-C.S. Lewis, Weight of Glory

Kashmir

In this wired age of non-stop communication with
little or no time for reflection and contemplation,
many find it necessary to carve out time in order to have the opportunity to be
creative, innovative, and imaginative.

Tibet

 

Costa Rica

I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

– Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Kashmir

The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude.
– Voltaire

Sri Lanka

Religious figures from Moses to Jesus, Mohammed
and the Buddha all found great value in solitude.

Iraq

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

Umbria, Italy

Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is richness of self.

- May Sarton

India

Canada

Silence is more musical than any song.
– Christina Rossetti

Maimana, Afghanistan

Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life.
Silence is pushing the off button. Shutting it down. All of it.
- Khaled Hosseini,  Amir in The Kite Runner

Bamiyan, Afghanistan

Work is not always required.
There is such a thing as sacred idleness.
– George MacDonald

Thailand

Mexico

Nepal

In Silence there is eloquence.
– Rumi