--- title: Solitude created: 2024-11-18T09:18:12 modified: 2026-02-05T07:51:24 --- > “Solitude gives birth to the original in us.” — Thomas Mann > “To live alone, one must be either a beast or a god, says Aristotle. Leaving out the third case: one must be both — a philosopher.” — Nietzsche > [“Remember: the time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself. Life’s cruelest irony.” — Douglas Coupland, Shampoo Planet](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7143-remember-the-time-you-feel-lonely-is-the-time-you) --- Staying alone is better than staying with the wrong. --- To shine in the light, you have to embrace the boredom in the dark. --- There are many elements of [living a good life](how-to-live-a-life.md), but the first and most foundational is to [love yourself](self-compassion.md) and enjoy spending time with yourself. [Go do things on your own / Take yourself on dates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs) so you learn to trust your mind and view it as a welcome companion. If someone declared, “Tomorrow you must spend the day alone” the hope is that you would reply, “That sounds like a good day!” The person who is at ease within finds every other space larger and more enjoyable. [^1] --- [Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think. Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink. The years go by, as quickly as a wink.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFxjnUPRwx4) --- [Lonely is a freedom that breathe easy and weightless and lonely is healing if you make it.](https://youtu.be/k7X7sZzSXYs?t=159) [^1]: Source: