--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Solitude is unbearable for those who can…" description: "\"Solitude is unbearable for those who can not bear themselves.\" — John Lancaster Spalding" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/484/john-lancaster-spalding-3115_bear_solitude-is-unbearable-for-those-who-can_2109833.png" --- # Solitude is unbearable for those who can not bear… ![“Solitude is unbearable for those who can not bear themselves.” quote by John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/484/john-lancaster-spalding-3115_bear_solitude-is-unbearable-for-those-who-can_2109833.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/484/john-lancaster-spalding-3115_bear_solitude-is-unbearable-for-those-who-can_2109833.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/484/john-lancaster-spalding-3115_bear_solitude-is-unbearable-for-those-who-can_2109833.png) > “Solitude is unbearable for those who can not bear themselves.” [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Those unable to tolerate themselves find solitude unbearable; self-acceptance is key. **In simple terms:** Self-acceptance eases solitude. Key Takeaway Cultivate inner comfort before seeking company. Themes solitude self-awareness acceptance Mood contemplative serious Type philosophical self-help When to use this quote - therapy - journaling - meditation - solo travel Key Concepts psychology of loneliness existentialism Questions to Reflect On - What do you enjoy about your own company? - How can you improve self-relationship? A Different Perspective Self-criticism can intensify isolation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) [Loneliness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loneliness/) [Solitude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/solitude/) ## Related quotes > [You endure what is unbearable, and you bear it. That is all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/you-endure-what-is-unbearable-and-you-bear-it-that-is-all/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [Most of life is unbearable. It’s unbearable but we bear it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-beddor/most-of-life-is-unbearable-it-s-unbearable-but-we-bear-it/) [Frank Beddor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-beddor/) > [Fozzie Bear has so many bear puns in this script - like, 'Trac is grizzly!' 'This is unbearable!' It's the greatest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-segel/fozzie-bear-has-so-many-bear-puns-in-this-script-like-trac-is-grizzly/) [Jason Segel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-segel/) > [If our education had included training to bear unpleasantness and to let the first shock pass until we could think more calmly, many an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-weekes/if-our-education-had-included-training-to-bear-unpleasantness-and-to/) [Claire Weekes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-weekes/) > [What do you think you should do if you're attacked by a bear? Play dead? No - that's a lie promoted by the bears.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-mirman/what-do-you-think-you-should-do-if-you-re-attacked-by-a-bear-play/) [Eugene Mirman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-mirman/) > [I have only my own burden to bear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dag-hammarskj-ld/i-have-only-my-own-burden-to-bear/) [Dag Hammarskjold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dag-hammarskj-ld/) > [We can bear the sun not to set, but we cannot bear the sun not to rise!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/we-can-bear-the-sun-not-to-set-but-we-cannot-bear-the-sun-not-to-rise/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [That really was NOT fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing into a concrete bear? NOT fun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/that-really-was-not-fun-though-well-the-hitting-her-with-a-stick-part/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) > [“The silent bear no witness against themselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/the-silent-bear-no-witness-against-themselves/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [What we are assigned to bear is in a sense a measure of our stature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/what-we-are-assigned-to-bear-is-in-a-sense-a-measure-of-our-stature/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [Bears are simultaneously so graceful and so strong. Bears know who they are, but they often don’t know who you are, which is why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-birbiglia/bears-are-simultaneously-so-graceful-and-so-strong-bears-know-who/) [Mike Birbiglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-birbiglia/) > [Are there bears in these mountains?" he asked. His companion nodded. "Of course. But it's a bit early in the year for them to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-flanagan/are-there-bears-in-these-mountains-he-asked-his-companion-nodded-of/) [John Flanagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-flanagan/) > [Yogi Bear changed my life in ways that I can't explain because it's not a full feature on me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-j-miller/yogi-bear-changed-my-life-in-ways-that-i-can-t-explain-because-it-s/) [T. J. Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-j-miller/) > [I like men. They are hugely entertaining, but they have a lot of shortcomings and you just have to bear those in mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-brand/i-like-men-they-are-hugely-entertaining-but-they-have-a-lot-of/) [Jo Brand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-brand/) > [I was much more upset by the situation with Jacob than by the possibility of being eaten by a bear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephenie-meyer/i-was-much-more-upset-by-the-situation-with-jacob-than-by-the/) [Stephenie Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephenie-meyer/) ## More by John Lancaster Spalding > [In giving us dominion over the animal kingdom God has signified His will that we subdue the beast within ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/in-giving-us-dominion-over-the-animal-kingdom-god-has-signified-his/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [To think profoundly, to seek and speak truth, to love justice and denounce wrong is to draw upon one's self the ill will of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/to-think-profoundly-to-seek-and-speak-truth-to-love-justice-and/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [There is some lack either of sense or of character in one who becomes involved in difficulties with the worthless or the vicious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/there-is-some-lack-either-of-sense-or-of-character-in-one-who-becomes/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [Worry, whatever its source, weakens, takes away courage, and shortens life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/worry-whatever-its-source-weakens-takes-away-courage-and-shortens-life/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [The zest of life lies in right doing, not in the garnered harvest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/the-zest-of-life-lies-in-right-doing-not-in-the-garnered-harvest/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [They who can no longer unlearn have lost the power to learn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/they-who-can-no-longer-unlearn-have-lost-the-power-to-learn/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [What we think out for ourselves forms channels in which other thoughts will flow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/what-we-think-out-for-ourselves-forms-channels-in-which-other/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [Women are aristocrats, and it is always the mother who makes us feel that we belong to the better sort.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/women-are-aristocrats-and-it-is-always-the-mother-who-makes-us-feel/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [Though what we accept be true, it is a prejudice unless we ourselves have considered and understood why and how it is true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/though-what-we-accept-be-true-it-is-a-prejudice-unless-we-ourselves/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [There are few things it is more important to learn than how to live on little and be therewith content: for the less we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/there-are-few-things-it-is-more-important-to-learn-than-how-to-live/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [We are more disturbed by a calamity which threatens us than by one which has befallen us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/we-are-more-disturbed-by-a-calamity-which-threatens-us-than-by-one/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [Be watchful lest thou lose the power of desiring and loving what appeals to the soul this is the miser's curse this the chain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/be-watchful-lest-thou-lose-the-power-of-desiring-and-loving-what/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [The exercise of authority is odious, and they who know how to govern, leave it in abeyance as much as possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/the-exercise-of-authority-is-odious-and-they-who-know-how-to-govern/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [We may outgrow the things of children, without acquiring sense and relish for those which become a man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/we-may-outgrow-the-things-of-children-without-acquiring-sense-and/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [They who see through the eyes of others are controlled by the will of others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/they-who-see-through-the-eyes-of-others-are-controlled-by-the-will-of/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) [Explore all 139 John Lancaster Spalding quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) ## More Bear quotes > [“Hobson was big and heavyset, but not exactly fat; he was probably what you’d get if you shaved a bear.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/hobson-was-big-and-heavyset-but-not-exactly-fat-he-was-probably-what/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [I looked at Randy White... 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I was off this path, and I thought, If there's a bear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-roker/when-i-was-in-greenough-montana-i-came-across-a-bear-cub-i-was-off/) [Al Roker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-roker/) > [I was much more upset by the situation with Jacob than by the possibility of being eaten by a bear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephenie-meyer/i-was-much-more-upset-by-the-situation-with-jacob-than-by-the/) [Stephenie Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephenie-meyer/) > [I like men. They are hugely entertaining, but they have a lot of shortcomings and you just have to bear those in mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-brand/i-like-men-they-are-hugely-entertaining-but-they-have-a-lot-of/) [Jo Brand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-brand/) > [Yogi Bear changed my life in ways that I can't explain because it's not a full feature on me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-j-miller/yogi-bear-changed-my-life-in-ways-that-i-can-t-explain-because-it-s/) [T. J. Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-j-miller/) > [“Rabbit underground, rabbit safe and sound.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-adams/rabbit-underground-rabbit-safe-and-sound/) [Richard Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-adams/) > [Are there bears in these mountains?" he asked. His companion nodded. "Of course. 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