Writing is a solitary profession; you are really alone when you write. Then the emotions become well shaped and distinct. But their transition into words must be done deliberately and with rigid artistry. – F. Sionil Jose
No matter how famous and established they were or however blessed they were with great songs or long careers, if they lived alone, they lived alone. That’s not the way I wanted to live prior to the tour or after. – Edie Brickell
Part of my problem as a young writer was that I was too much a New Yorker, always second-guessing the ‘market.’ I became so discouraged that I decided to write something that would please me alone – that became my sole criterion. And that was when I wrote ‘Forgetting Elena,’ the first novel I got published. – Edmund White
Taste is the fundamental quality which sums up all the other qualities. It is the nec plus ultra of the intelligence. Through this alone is genius the supreme health and balance of all the faculties. – Comte de Lautreamont
There’s a feeling sometimes in motherhood that you’re alone in what you’re going through, and none of us are alone. We’re all going through the same thing. – Nia Vardalos
Spain held the doctrine (and was right in holding it) that every human enterprise should stand on two pillars – the temporal and the spiritual. To depend upon one of these pillars alone is to call down final failure upon any undertaking. – Edwin Markham
It was because of Henderson that I stayed… It was he and he alone who kept me in Toronto and in Canada. Were it not for Henderson, I believe insulin would have been a product of the United States. – Frederick Banting
As long as my sixth graders showed an average improvement of five years, the principal and district pretty much left me alone to create my own curriculum and teach whatever I wanted. – Dan Simmons
We have become bound by a political straitjacket that frames every debate: Too much federal government. Yet our forefathers forged this system for us. The federal government can accomplish what the states, acting alone or even in concert, cannot. – Donna Brazile
Books should be right up there with exercise and diet as something that don’t just entertain us but heal us. They tell us we are not alone and fix the pieces of us that can be shattered by reality. They are teachers, and they are friends, and we should never contemplate a world – or a life – without them. – Matt Haig
You can always improve on something, the technology is different today, but I would leave it well alone. If there was something that was incomplete, that might be interesting… because I do that on my website. – Dave Davies
I think you don’t do work for controversy alone, and whenever you do new work which people don’t understand and they say it is done to create controversy. – M. F. Husain
In Turkey, you’re not allowed to be left alone in the hospital. The nurse teaches the family how to do things, and somebody is always there with the patient. – Mehmet Oz
There’s something very particular about the kind of rage you feel when you’re alone in a practice room by yourself, unable to master a simple thing like a rudiment. – Damien Chazelle
Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone. – Paul Tillich
When I did my first few television specials, my illusions were so advanced that it took a couple of years before the other illusionists could even figure out what I was doing, let alone try to imitate me. – Doug Henning
The foundations of a strong economy don’t rest alone on the decisions of Chancellors or the spending programmes of government. – George Osborne
When I moved to New York, I felt very strong emotionally and mentally. Aside from touring, I’d spent a couple of years alone and because of that, I was able to go out in the world again. – Marketa Irglova
I was an introverted kid; I liked my time alone. And the rest of my family is pretty extroverted, so I felt like a bit of an oddball. They’re very gregarious and charming and charismatic people. I always felt like I was struggling as a young person. I think everyone was very surprised to hear that I wanted to be an actor. – Mark Ruffalo
It was either Voltaire or Charlie Sheen who said, ‘We are born alone. We live alone. We die alone. And anything in between that can give us the illusion that we’re not, we cling to.’ – Gabriel Byrne
I would hope that understanding and reconciliation are not limited to the 19th hole alone. – Gerald R. Ford
The trouble is that the average trader on Wall Street, he or she is so young, he doesn’t even remember the recession of 2001, let alone the previous one. – Nouriel Roubini
If it’s true that our species is alone in the universe, then I’d have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little. – George Carlin
I like video games, but they are very violent. I want to create a video game in which you have to help all the characters who have died in the other games. ‘Hey, man, what are you playing?’ ‘Super Busy Hospital. Could you leave me alone? I’m performing surgery! This guy got shot in the head, like, 27 times!’ – Demetri Martin
I’m not a rock star. Sure I am, to a certain extent because of the situation, but when kids ask me how it feels to be a rock star, I say leave me alone, I’m not a rock star. I’m not in it for the fame, I’m in it because I like to play. – Eddie Van Halen
I’m shooting in Brooklyn, we’ve got all kinds of crap going on, and I’m all alone now in a big hotel suite that you can’t believe the size of it and a thing sticks in my foot and I just think it’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to me. – Danny DeVito
