Echoes Across Time

Alone, and Not Lonely

There's a solitude that crushes and a solitude that opens. Emily Dickinson, Fernando Pessoa, Marcel Proust, Mahmoud Darwish, Matsuo Basho — people who found the second kind.

37 total quotes

“
For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.

—Carl SaganAstronomer & Author

Post-War ERA • North America

“
I, Lalla, entered the gate of the mind's garden; there I saw Shiva united with Shakti.

—Lal DedMystic & Poet

Medieval ERA • South Asia

“
The Patagonia of my childhood is a geography of the soul.

—Delia DomínguezPoet

Post-War ERA • Latin America

“
The city is like a book; it has a language that must be learned.

—Teju ColeWriter

Digital Age ERA • West Africa

“
Silence holds its own language, often echoing louder than any spoken word.

—Silvia MolinaNovelist & Writer

Contemporary ERA • Latin America

“
I was looking for my soul, but I saw only God.

—KabirMystic & Poet

Medieval ERA • South Asia

“
Writing is not describing. It is reaching toward something unreachable.

—Marguerite DurasNovelist

Contemporary ERA • Western Europe

“
Silence, too, is a language. Sometimes, it speaks truths too profound for words.

—Goenawan MohamadPoet, Essayist & Intellectual

Late Modern ERA • Southeast Asia

“
My soul is a secret orchestra; I know not what instruments, what sounds.

—Fernando PessoaPoet & Writer

Early Modern ERA • Southern Europe

“
I carry within me a deep silence, a garden of unuttered dreams.

—Juana de IbarbourouPoet

Early Modern ERA • Latin America

“
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

—Marcel ProustNovelist

Early Modern ERA • Western Europe

“
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside.

—Anne FrankScholar & Thinker

Early Modern ERA • Western Europe

“
The moon appears from the ocean; a thousand miles, she shares the light.

—Li BaiPoet

Medieval ERA • East Asia

“
A human being left to pure nature will arrive at the truth by reason alone.

—Ibn TufaylPhilosopher & Physician

Medieval ERA • MENA

“
In the silence of the village, I hear the universe breathing.

—Namdeo Dhondo MahanorPoet

Contemporary ERA • South Asia

“
Our village was small, simple, a world entire, oblivious to outside tumult.

—Tayeb SalihNovelist

Post-War ERA • North Africa

“
To live is so startling it leaves little room for other occupations.

—Emily DickinsonPoet

Industrial Age ERA • North America

“
The wider the vision, the fewer the words.

—Al-NiffariMystic

Medieval ERA • MENA

“
Bright moonlight before my bed: I thought it was frost on the ground.

—Li BaiPoet

Medieval ERA • East Asia

“
My garden is not a place, but a state of mind.

—Dulce María LoynazPoet & Novelist

Post-War ERA • Caribbean

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