Solitude is a state of seclusion or isolation, i.e., lack of contact with people. It may stem from bad relationships, deliberate choice, infectious disease, mental disorders, neurological disorders or circumstances of employment or situation (see castaway).
Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one may work, think or rest without being disturbed. It may be desired for the sake of privacy.
A distinction has been made between solitude and loneliness. In this sense solitude is positive.
Read more about Solitude: Health Effects, Psychological Effects
Famous quotes containing the word solitude:
“On the tree, Future, we build our nest; and in our solitude eagles shall bring us nourishment in their beaks!”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Friendship, according to Proust, is the negation of that irremediable solitude to which every human being is condemned.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
“I cannot walk through the suburbs in the solitude of the night without thinking that the night pleases us because it suppresses idle details, just as our memory does.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)