Kate

“A silver lining of being alone is being with someone you can trust, someone you respect and understand. You can let your guard down when you're by yourself. You can give yourself permission to live your authentic life, without apology. You can love yourself in a way that no one else can.”
― Maggie Smith, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change

“Being alone,” she started, “isn’t exactly something I’m good at doing. Every time I try to be alone—even when I know that someone I know isn’t too far away—I start... panicking, I guess.” Caroline stopped to take a breath, feeling like what she was saying was the most draining conversation she had ever had in her life. “So, when I come out here, I can convince myself that I’m fine. I can almost get it to where I’ll believe that I can function like a normal human being because if I can go to another state and be alone, I should be able to do anything.”
― Heidi Dischler, All the Little Things

“How good it feels to be completely alone! To be able to talk to ourselves out loud, to walk around without being looked at, to lean back in an undisturbed reverie! Every house becomes an open field, every room has the breadth of a farm.

The usual sounds are all strange, as if they belonged to a nearby but independent universe. We are kings at last. This is what we all truly long to be, and the most plebeian among us perhaps more ardently than those full of false gold. For a moment we are the universe’s pensioners, recipients of a steady income, with no needs and no worries.”
― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

“Solitude makes it possible for us to literally enjoy ourselves.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana