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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.

Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.

Our uniqueness makes us special, makes perception valuable - but it can also make us lonely. This loneliness is different from being 'alone': You can be lonely even surrounded by people. The feeling I'm talking about stems from the sense that we can never fully share the truth of who we are. I experienced this acutely at an early age.

Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone.

Being solitary is being alone well: being alone luxuriously immersed in doings of your own choice, aware of the fullness of your won presence rather than of the absence of others. Because solitude is an achievement.

Solitude is pleasant. Loneliness is not.

If loneliness is part of our essence, that is, our essential nature, that is only because of the way, in practical terms, we actually exist; that is, the way we move and work and live in the world.

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

Solitude is not the same as loneliness. Solitude is a solitary boat floating in a sea of possible companions.

What does it mean to not be alone? I've approached that question through music, technology, writing and other means.