I was always on my oddy knocky. Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone. Lord Byron
But ’midst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men,
To hear, to see, to feel, and to possess,
And roam along, the world’s tired denizen,
With none who bless us, none whom we can bless. Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto II:26
This is to be alone; this, this is solitude! ibid. II:26
In solitude, when we are least alone. ibid. III:90
Among them, but not of them. ibid. III:113
’Tis solitude should teach us how to die;
It hath no flatterers; vanity can give
No hollow aid; alone – man with his God must strive. ibid. IV:33
The trouble is not really in being alone, it’s being lonely. One can be lonely in the midst of a crowd, don’t you think? Christine Feehan, Dark Prince
You see, the point is that the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone. Henrik Ibsen, An Enemy of the People
‘Oh boy, I don't know how did I ended up here? ... I felt very lonely at times in recent years ...’ The Secret Tapes of O J Simpson, tapes prior to Bronco chase, CI 2015
I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself. Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights, Mr Lockwood
I know nothing – nothing in the world – of the hearts of men. I only know that I am alone – horribly alone. Ford Madox Ford, The Good Soldier
But when Leon lost his rematch with Ali in August of 1978, the gladhanders suddenly disappeared. Leon trudged that long lonely mile back to his hotel room all alone. Jim Brady, The Men Who Could Beat Ali But Still Couldn’t Win
I was in the killing game. And I travelled alone. Always alone. The Detonator 2006 starring Wesley Snipes & Silvia Colloca & Tim Dutton & William Hope & Matthew Leitch & Michael Brandon & Stuart Milligan, director Po Chih Leong, Wesley
So he was deserted. The whole world was clamouring: Kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself, for our sakes. But why should he kill himself for their sakes? Food was pleasant; the sun hot; and this killing onself, how does one go about it, with a table knife, uglily, with floods of blood, – by sucking a gaspipe? He was too weak; he could scarcely raise his hand. Besides, now he was quite alone, condemned, deserted, as those who are about to to die are alone, there was a luxury in it, an isolation full of sublimity; a freedom which the attached can never know. Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway
In the midst of friends, home, and kind parents, she was alone. William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair
They had discovered before anyone else the underlying weakness with the new individualism: that you were free but you were alone. Adam Curtis, Can’t Get You Out of My Head III: Money Changes Everything, BBCiplayer 2021
The silence persists; we remain alone ... We are unique. Brian Cox, Human Universe III: Are We Alone? BBC 2014
The very fine line between loneliness and solitude, reflection; being alone always appealed to me when I was a kid. Brad Mehldau