12 quotes that sum up why the single life is wonderful
There’s a common and prevalent belief in our society that you have to be paired up to be happy. We know this simply isn’t true. These quotations remind us all that being alone certainly doesn’t equal loneliness – and if fact, many singletons would swear they had the “better” life. So for all the happy singles out there, let’s celebrate you!
“My alone feels so good, I’ll only have you if you’re sweeter than my solitude.” – Warsan Shire
“If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company.” – Jean-Paul Sartre
“You do not need to be loved, not at the cost of yourself. The single relationship that is truly central and crucial in a life is the relationship to the self. Of all the people you will know in a lifetime, you are the only one you will never lose.” – Jo Coudert
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself.” – Walt Whitman
“He is his own best friend, and takes delight in privacy whereas the man of no virtue or ability is his own worst enemy and is afraid of solitude.” – Aristotle
“When I get lonely these days, I think: So BE lonely, Liz. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But never again use another person’s body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
“I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” – Henry David Thoreau
“If we seek paradise outside ourselves, we cannot have paradise in our hearts.” – Thomas Merton
“Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is richness of self.” – May Sarton
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go.” – Dr. Seuss
“I don't need a man to rectify my existence. The most profound relationship we'll ever have is the one with ourselves.” – Shirley MacLaine
“I think it's very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not defined by another person.” – Oscar Wilde