Henri Nouwen Quotes

For a long time, I was afraid to be alone. I had to learn how to be alone. And there are still times when I think, Uh-oh! I gotta talk to somebody here or I'm gonna go crazy! But I like to be alone. Now I do. I really do. There's a big luxury in solitude.

The kind of solitude that refreshes and restores is very important, not just for children, not just for adolescents, but for all of us. If you don't teach your children how to be alone they will only be able to be lonely.

There might be some hours of loneliness. But there was something wonderful even in loneliness. At least you belonged to yourself when you were lonely.

We must relearn to be alone.

Solitude matters. And for some people it's the air they breathe.

I am lonely, sometimes, but I dare say it's good for me.

Woe unto him that is never alone, and cannot bear to be alone.

Turning 30 was really big for me. I can get really stuck on 'I don't like this or that about myself.' I've found that the only thing that breaks that for me is being able to spend time alone, going to the movies by myself or going to art museums alone. I do that a lot. I've discovered the importance of even 15 or 30 minutes a day where it is just me.

It is a difficult lesson to learn today-to leave one's friends and family and deliberately practice the art of solitude for an hour or a day or a week. And yet, once it is done, I find there is a quality to being alone that is incredibly precious. Life rushes back into the void, richer, more vivid, fuller than before.

A WISE MAN never enjoys himself so much, or a FOOL so little, as when he is alone.

One's need for loneliness is not satisfied if one sits at a table alone. There must be empty chairs as well.

Solitude. One knows instinctively it has benefits that must be more deeply satisfying than those of other conditions, but still it is difficult.

Solitude is an essential element for the spiritual health of a child. If we only stimulate our children - keep them busy with endless stories with no space to be alone - that's not good.

Aloneness is a wise teacher. Kierkegaard remarked that one sign of spiritual maturity was the ability to be comfortable when alone.

And I somehow always felt less lonely when I was completely alone.

I am never less alone than when alone.

So it is necessary that we should learn to be alone.

I was never less alone than when by myself.

People will occasionally ask me if I understand what it's like to be lonely. And the truth is I don't, because for me, solitariness is a blessing, a gift. Me, I get on fine with myself.

People say you've got to be OK with your own company, but tell me why?

The longer one is alone, the easier it is to hear the song of the earth.

I actually like spending time alone - it doesn't bother me at all.

If you use that time where you're alone in ways that bring you joy and peace, then that solitude can have a really positive effect on your life.

You may not enjoy loneliness, because loneliness is sad. But solitude is something else; solitude is what you look forward to when you want to be alone, when you want to be with yourself. So, solitude is something we all need from time to time.

I might have sung party numbers, but I love to party alone.