Yousuf Karsh Quotes

We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.

The primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men, necessarily, must avoid; the state of being alone.

To live alone is the fate of all great souls.

Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.

We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands on himself, and the latter who makes no demands on himself.

History shows that the majority of people that have done anything great have passed their youth in seclusion.

It is only the great men who are truly obscene. If they had not dared to be obscene, they could never have dared to be great.

Do something great that you really believe is great.

Great men do not content us. It is their solitude, not their force, that makes them conspicuous.

The greater the spirit, the more one is alone.

Greatness, as we daily see it, is unsociable.

One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.

Solitude, though it may be silent as light, is like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man. All men come into this world alone and leave it alone.

Be able to live alone, even if you don't want to and think you will never find it necessary.

No matter how close to yours another's steps have grown, in the end there is one dance you'll do alone.

Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.

The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.

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

To be great is to be misunderstood.

Self-discovery is above all the realization that we are alone: it is the opening of an impalpable, transparent wall - that of our consciousness - between the world and ourselves.

Nobody was playing the soprano saxophone and certainly nobody was trying to do anything with it. So I was all alone. I didn't know that at first.

I had friends but I was spending a great deal of my time alone and for me that was vital because there's an awful lot you learn about yourself when you're alone.

By nature, I sit alone in a room and type... My goal was never celebrity.

My sister is older than me and would often go off, so I grew up alone in a sense. I had to amuse myself and developed a wonderful fantasy world and quite happily lived in it. I think, in adulthood, that helped me. I love pottering on my own.

All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers.