I think about this too - the older I get, the more time I spend in solitude - and occasionally wonder, is this good or not good? but mostly I feel it is good. :)
I think about this too - the older I get, the more time I spend in solitude - and occasionally wonder, is this good or not good? but mostly I feel it is good. :)
I found the other quotes I was looking for, and also one by Einstein: тАЬI live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.тАЭ
Two-thousand years ago Cicero* wrote that Publius Scipio Africanus* "was never less alone than when he was alone."1
That's the second half of a sentence. The first half is that Scipio was "never less idle than when he was idle," which meshes with what Volatire* said:
"A busy solitude is, I believe, the happiest life."2
And I can't find them now, but with some frequency I see quotations from people, especially authors, who claimed to find more and more pleasure in solitude over the years.
(*) Publius Scipio Africanus was a Roman general and statesman, perhaps best known for defeating Hannibal in the Second Punic War in the 3rd century BCE. The "Africanus" title reflects his victory in Africa. Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, perhaps best known for his political speeches in the 1st century BCE. Voltaire (born Fran├зois-Marie Arouet) was an 18th-century French Enlightenment writer.
(1) "...numquam se minus otiosum esse, quam cum otiosus, nec minus solum, quam cum solus esset," De Officiis, III.1
(2) "La solitude occup├йe est, je crois, la vie la plus heureuse," letter to Frederick the Great in 1751
I think about this too - the older I get, the more time I spend in solitude - and occasionally wonder, is this good or not good? but mostly I feel it is good. :)
I found the other quotes I was looking for, and also one by Einstein: тАЬI live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.тАЭ
I've gathered everything here:
https://ancientwisdommodernlives.com/p/on-being-alone-vs-being-comma-alone-loneliness-solitude-ancient-wisdom
Two-thousand years ago Cicero* wrote that Publius Scipio Africanus* "was never less alone than when he was alone."1
That's the second half of a sentence. The first half is that Scipio was "never less idle than when he was idle," which meshes with what Volatire* said:
"A busy solitude is, I believe, the happiest life."2
And I can't find them now, but with some frequency I see quotations from people, especially authors, who claimed to find more and more pleasure in solitude over the years.
(*) Publius Scipio Africanus was a Roman general and statesman, perhaps best known for defeating Hannibal in the Second Punic War in the 3rd century BCE. The "Africanus" title reflects his victory in Africa. Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, perhaps best known for his political speeches in the 1st century BCE. Voltaire (born Fran├зois-Marie Arouet) was an 18th-century French Enlightenment writer.
(1) "...numquam se minus otiosum esse, quam cum otiosus, nec minus solum, quam cum solus esset," De Officiis, III.1
(2) "La solitude occup├йe est, je crois, la vie la plus heureuse," letter to Frederick the Great in 1751