Custom is our nature. What are our natural principles but principles of custom? I am much afraid that nature is itself only a first custom, as custom is a second nature.
Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed.
The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.
Baltasar Gracián·1647He who cannot find himself the retreat of his own soul, let him appeal to solitude — if he can even bear himself.
Thomas Merton·1958Not all of us are called to be hermits, but all of us need enough silence and solitude to enable the deeper voice of our own self to be heard.
Seneca·63 ADThe primary indication, to my thinking, of a well-ordered mind is a man's ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company.
