James Joyce Quotes

The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.

Solitude is a breeding ground for idiosyncrasy, and I relish that about it, the way it liberates whim.

For each one of us stands alone in the midst of a universe.

I'm not writing non-fiction. I don't feel anything about me as a kid was unique. Except that I had more interest in being alone and using my imagination.

All great and precious things are lonely.

You come into this world as you leave it, on your own. It's made me want to live a life slightly less ordinary.

We are alone on this planet. It's not a choice. Here we are. This is what everyone has to deal with.

The basis of the self is not thought but suffering, which is the most fundamental of all feelings. While it suffers, not even a cat can doubt its unique and uninterchangeable self. In intense suffering the world disappears and each of us is alone with his self. Suffering is the university of ego-centrism.

We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and -- in spite of True Romance magazines -- we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely -- at least, not all the time -- but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don't see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.

--then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and - in spite of True Romance magazines - we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way.

We live as we dream - alone.

Let those who would affect singularity with success first determine to be very virtuous, and they will be sure to be very singular.

I am entirely alone. I and my shadow fill the universe.

The two biggest self-deceptions of all are that life has a 'meaning'and each of us is unique.

Every man is grave alone.

The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone.

And so I learned what solitude really was. It was raw material - awesome, malleable,older than men or worlds or water. And it was merciless - for it let a man become precisely what he alone made of himself.

An object, after all, is what makes infinity private.

In the end, as you get older and older, your life is your life, and you are alone with it.

Eventually, we all end up alone.

The individualists stare into each other's eyes and yet deny the existence of each other.

Anyone who's really interested in anything spends time alone.

For I do not exist: there exist but the thousands of mirrors that reflect me.

I never stop to wonder why I'm not like other people. They mystery to me is why more people aren't like me.