“It is a great misfortune to be alone, my friends; and it must be believed that solitude can quickly destroy reason.”

“Such a great misfortune, not to be able to be alone.”

“It is this nothingness (in solitude) that I have to face in my solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything in me wants to run to my friends, my work, and my distractions so that I can forget my nothingness and make myself believe that I am worth something. The task is to persevere in my solitude, to stay in my cell until all my seductive visitors get tired of pounding on my door and leave me alone. The wisdom of the desert is that the confrontation with our own frightening nothingness forces us to surrender ourselves totally and unconditionally to the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“There is nothing worse than solitude. Solitude can help a man realize himself; but it destroys a woman”

“If he must be alone, he would make solitude his armor.”

“Enjoy the present, bid defiance to the future, laugh at all those reasonable beings who exercise their reason to avoid the misfortunes which they fear, destroying at the same time the pleasure that they might enjoy.”