“I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long appeared dead, revive within me. Half surprised by the novelty of these sensations, I allowed myself to be borne away by them, and forgetting my solitude and deformity, dared to be happy.”

“I took a great deal of pleasure in it, and I still feel nostalgic about it. However, I felt that it had led me to live in a parallel world of pure invention, shut inside my solitude. Naturally, it was precisely for that purpose that it was made and that was why I took pleasure in it, but I wanted to regain body and roots.”

Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985) sculptor from France

“True happiness is impossible without solitude…. I need solitude in my life as I need food and drink and the laughter of little children. Extravagant though it may sound, solitude is the filter of my soul. It nourishes me, and rejuvenates me. Left alone, I discovered that I keep myself good company.”

Sophia Loren (1934) Italian actress

“I had never known the pleasure of reading, of exploring the recesses of the soul, of letting myself be carried away by imagination, beauty, and the mystery of fiction and language. For me all those things were born with that novel.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

“The most sensational surprise was the sudden discovery, one day, that my pictures, for the first time in history, had become walls. By means of what strange process had I arrived at such precise images? And why did they make me, their first viewer, quake with emotion?”

Antoni Tàpies (1923–2012) Catalan painter, sculptor and art theorist

“As long as I live I shall not allow myself to forget that I shall die; I am waiting for death so that I can forget about it.”

Emil M. Cioran (1911–1995) Romanian philosopher and essayist

“Never forget that solitude is my lot… I implore those who love me to love my solitude."

(, May 11, 1910)”

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian poet and writer

“I was so surprised at being born that I didn't speak for a year and a half.”

Gracie Allen (1902–1964) American actress and comedienne

“When I was born I was so surprised I didn't talk for a year and a half.”

Irène Némirovsky (1903–1942) French novelist who died at the age of 39 in Auschwitz

“I dreamt my lady came and found me dead
…………
And breathed such life with kisses in my lips
That I revived and was an emperor.”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet