Some of My Favorite Quotes on Solitude and Creativity

Several months ago, I received the following e-mail from Joel Cuello, current President of the Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering. His e-mail inspired me do some search on quotes from the famous (dead or alive) personalities on the subject/topic about Solitude and Creativity. I am listing 15 of my favorite quotes below.

Here's Joel e-mail:

"In the foregoing link and in reference to Abueva's career longevity, the sculptor was quoted as saying that "the artist must possess the inner drive, passion, and LONELINESS of a long distance runner to go very far.”

Personal Note: Napoleon Abueva is Philippine National Artist for Sculpture who was my contemporary at the University of the Philippines, Diliman in the mid 1950's. (http://davidbkatague.blogspot.com/2017/10/napoleon-abueva-famous-living.html)

Quite notably, this sentiment was echoed just this past week by Cecile Licad, the world-renowned pianist, who was in the Philippines to perform Chopin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Personal Note: My wife (Macrine) knows very well Cecile's Aunt Gloria Licad Lanot in the mid 1950's. My wife at that time was employed by Mr. Serafin Lanot( deceased) in his(Printing Press). Gloria Licad Lanot was married to poet-essayist-journalist-astrologer, Serafin Lanot. He was a former director of the Bureau of Printing and head of Tamaraw Publishing House, Inc. I also have the honor meeting Mr. Lanot once in his office when I visited Macrine. For more details on Mr Lanot life and achievements read: https://astrologyphilippines.blogspot.com/2013/09/100-years-life-and-work-of-serafin.html

Gloria Licad was the sister of Dr. Jesus Licad, M.D( father of Cecile). Gloria(deceased) was also a pianist and a retired music teacher from the University of the Philippines College of Music. She finished Music, major in Piano at the St. Scholastica’s College, and was praised by her professors at Chicago Musical College, where she obtained her M.A. in Piano.

Cecile Licad was quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer as saying that, "I understand it that people are truly proud of you and want you around most of the time. But an artist needs to withdraw from that crowd, to be cloistered like a nun and to be able to reflect on her calling. It is not an easy profession. You have to live life, but you also make sure your art is enriched by it."

The need for such "alone time," of course, is familiar to most artists, scientists, scholars and writers. It is part of the calling.
I believe, however, that many of us can attest that such "alone time" is not a lonely time -- but indeed a time for searching, questing, discovery and, on occasions, enlightenment ". Best regards, Joel
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The following are fifteen of my favorite quotes on Solitude( Being Alone) and Creativity

1. “Talent is nurtured in solitude … A creation of importance can only be produced when its author isolates himself, it is a child of solitude.” ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Göethe

2. “Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself.” ~ Franz Kafka

3. “The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone—that is the secret of invention: be alone, that is when ideas are born.” ~ Nikola Tesla

4. “Without great solitude no serious work is possible.” ~ Pablo Picasso

5. “Every kind of creative work demands solitude, and being alone, constructively alone, is a prerequisite for every phase of the creative process.” ~ Barbara Powell

6. “A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds.”  ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

7. “The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.” ~ Aldous Huxley

8. “The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.”  ~ Albert Einstein

9. “History shows that the majority of people that have done anything great have passed their youth in seclusion.”  ~ Thomas Carlyle

10. “To be creative you must create a space for yourself where you can be undisturbed… separate from everyday concerns.”   ~ John Cleese

11. “And here in my isolation I can grow stronger. Poetry seems to come of itself, without effort, and I need only let myself dream a little while painting to suggest it.” ~ Paul Gauguin

12. “Artists with serious aspirations need to be left alone to follow the course of their own imagination.” ~ Robert Genn

13. “Often whole days pass without my speaking to anyone.” ~ Vincent van Gogh

14. “My work is always better when I am alone and follow my own impressions.” ~ Claude Monet

15. “Because I cannot work except in solitude, it is necessary that I live my work and that is impossible except in solitude.”  ~ Pablo Picasso

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Personal Note: To me, Being Alone and Loneliness are not the same. I could be alone for hours writing and never feel lonely.
Do you have a favorite quote?