--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Loneliness is solitude with a problem." description: "\"Loneliness is solitude with a problem.\" — Maggie Nelson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/maggie-nelson-4294_loneliness_loneliness-is-solitude-with-a-problem-30_3092618.jpg" --- # Loneliness is solitude with a problem. ![“Loneliness is solitude with a problem.” quote by Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/maggie-nelson-4294_loneliness_loneliness-is-solitude-with-a-problem-30_3092618.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/maggie-nelson-4294_loneliness_loneliness-is-solitude-with-a-problem-30_3092618.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/maggie-nelson-4294_loneliness_loneliness-is-solitude-with-a-problem-30_3092618.jpg) > “Loneliness is solitude with a problem.” [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Loneliness becomes problematic when solitude is unwanted or causes distress. **In simple terms:** Unwanted solitude is loneliness. Key Takeaway Cultivate meaningful connections. Themes psychology loneliness solitude Mood thoughtful empathetic Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - friendship building - therapy - community groups - mindfulness practice Key Concepts Existentialism mental health Questions to Reflect On - When does solitude become harmful? - How can you turn loneliness into connection? A Different Perspective Some solitude is beneficial for growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Loneliness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loneliness/) [Problem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/problem/) [Solitude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/solitude/) ## Related quotes > [It is easier, of course, to find dignity in one's solitude. Loneliness is solitude with a problem. Can blue solve the problem, or can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/it-is-easier-of-course-to-find-dignity-in-one-s-solitude-loneliness/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [Loneliness is a drug, a narcotic; it grows through veins, through nerves and muscles; it assumes some right of possession over your body and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-j-ellory/loneliness-is-a-drug-a-narcotic-it-grows-through-veins-through-nerves/) [R.J. Ellory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-j-ellory/) > [I have been trying, for some time now, to find dignity in my loneliness. I have been finding this hard to do. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/i-have-been-trying-for-some-time-now-to-find-dignity-in-my-loneliness/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [“I have been trying, for some time now, to find dignity in my loneliness. I have been finding this hard to do. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/i-have-been-trying-for-some-time-now-to-find-dignity-in-my-loneliness-2/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [I shall lead you through the loneliness, the solitude you will not understand; but it is my shortcut to your soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/i-shall-lead-you-through-the-loneliness-the-solitude-you-will-not/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [Usually, we think that "good" loneliness is what we call "solitude," the choice of some alone-time. But I want to press on with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-l-dumm/usually-we-think-that-good-loneliness-is-what-we-call-solitude-the/) [Thomas L. Dumm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-l-dumm/) > [Real travel is not about the highlights with which you dazzle your friends once you're home. It's about the loneliness, the solitude, the evenings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahir-shah/real-travel-is-not-about-the-highlights-with-which-you-dazzle-your/) [Tahir Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahir-shah/) > [“I like to make a distinction between solitude and being alone. Alone signifies loneliness, whereas solitude means really connecting with yourself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/i-like-to-make-a-distinction-between-solitude-and-being-alone-alone/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [To live a spiritual life we must first find the courage to enter into the desert of our loneliness and to change it by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-live-a-spiritual-life-we-must-first-find-the-courage-to-enter-into/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Solitude is not the same as loneliness. Solitude is a solitary boat floating in a sea of possible companions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fulghum/solitude-is-not-the-same-as-loneliness-solitude-is-a-solitary-boat/) [Robert Fulghum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fulghum/) > [“Writing is a solitary job--that is, no one can help you with it, bu there's nothing lonely about it. I have always been too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/writing-is-a-solitary-job-that-is-no-one-can-help-you-with-it-bu/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Paul Tillich - Loneliness & Solitude: "And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain to pray: and when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tillich/paul-tillich-loneliness-solitude-and-when-he-had-sent-the-multitudes/) [Paul Tillich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tillich/) > [“Not loneliness, but solitude. Not suffering, but endurance, the discovery of grim kinship with the rocks and sky. And the finding here of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/not-loneliness-but-solitude-not-suffering-but-endurance-the-discovery/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [“There's a difference between loneliness and solitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-e-smith/there-s-a-difference-between-loneliness-and-solitude/) [Jennifer E. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-e-smith/) > [“...Bhutan all but bases its identity upon its loneliness, and its refusal to b assimilated into India, or Tibet, or Nepal. Vietnam, at present,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/bhutan-all-but-bases-its-identity-upon-its-loneliness-and-its-refusal/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) ## More by Maggie Nelson > [“When I was alive, I aimed to be a student not of longing but of light.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/when-i-was-alive-i-aimed-to-be-a-student-not-of-longing-but-of-light/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [I think writing kind of burns out the flaming question. Sometimes it might feel like when you're living with certain paradoxes and they're unarticulated,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/i-think-writing-kind-of-burns-out-the-flaming-question-sometimes-it/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [“I want you to know, if you ever read this, there was a time when I would rather have had you by my side…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/i-want-you-to-know-if-you-ever-read-this-there-was-a-time-when-i/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [“It is absurd, Barthes says, to try to flee from language's assertive nature 'adding to each sentence some little phrase of uncertainty, as if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/it-is-absurd-barthes-says-to-try-to-flee-from-language-s-assertive/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [“I can remember a time when I took Henry James's advice--'try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost!'--deeply to heart.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/i-can-remember-a-time-when-i-took-henry-james-s-advice-try-to-be-one/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [It is easier, of course, to find dignity in one's solitude. Loneliness is solitude with a problem. Can blue solve the problem, or can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/it-is-easier-of-course-to-find-dignity-in-one-s-solitude-loneliness/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [“But “knowing the truth” does not come with redemption as a guarantee, nor does a feeling of redemption guarantee an end to a cycle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/but-knowing-the-truth-does-not-come-with-redemption-as-a-guarantee/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [“Girls are cruelest to themselves,” observes Anne Carson in “The Glass Essay,” her brilliant long poem about the ravages of female anger, loneliness, grief,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/girls-are-cruelest-to-themselves-observes-anne-carson-in-the-glass/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [“On one hand, the Aristotelian, perhaps evolutionary need to put everything into categories– predators, twilight, edible – on the other, the need to pay homage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/on-one-hand-the-aristotelian-perhaps-evolutionary-need-to-put/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [“Do not, however, make the mistake of thinking that all desire is yearning.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/do-not-however-make-the-mistake-of-thinking-that-all-desire-is/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [“Psychology forces everything we call love into the pathological or the delusional or the biologically explicable, that if that I was feeling wasn't love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/psychology-forces-everything-we-call-love-into-the-pathological-or/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [“I edit myself into a boldness that is neither native or foreign to me. At times I grow tired of this approach, and all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/i-edit-myself-into-a-boldness-that-is-neither-native-or-foreign-to-me/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [“The idea is a complicated one, as the burden falls to us to differentiate this Divine Darkness from other kinds of darknesses-- that off…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/the-idea-is-a-complicated-one-as-the-burden-falls-to-us-to/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [Yes, I'm writing about motherhood, but I bristle a little bit, especially living with someone whose parenting falls between the cracks of what the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/yes-i-m-writing-about-motherhood-but-i-bristle-a-little-bit/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [“I do not know the reason for this blue pussy, meant to convey both divine bewilderment and revelation. But I do feel that its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/i-do-not-know-the-reason-for-this-blue-pussy-meant-to-convey-both/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) [Explore all 111 Maggie Nelson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) ## More Loneliness quotes > [“Hell is only loneliness, a place without play for the soul, a place without God. How could there be God in loneliness when God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-thayer-hamann/hell-is-only-loneliness-a-place-without-play-for-the-soul-a-place/) [Hilary Thayer Hamann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-thayer-hamann/) > [Believe to the end, even if all men went astray and you were left the only one faithful; bring your offering even then and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/believe-to-the-end-even-if-all-men-went-astray-and-you-were-left-the/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [I'm not alone, but I am lonely without you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-m-not-alone-but-i-am-lonely-without-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [What is the opposite of two? A lonely me, a lonely you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-is-the-opposite-of-two-a-lonely-me-a-lonely-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We often refer to loneliness as something negative. And we look at it as a weakness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-shetty/we-often-refer-to-loneliness-as-something-negative-and-we-look-at-it/) [Jay Shetty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-shetty/) > [I need the pain of loneliness to make my imagination work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orhan-pamuk/i-need-the-pain-of-loneliness-to-make-my-imagination-work/) [Orhan Pamuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orhan-pamuk/) > [There was only the broad square with the scattered dim moons of the street lamps and with the monumental stone arch which receded into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-maria-remarque/there-was-only-the-broad-square-with-the-scattered-dim-moons-of-the/) [Erich Maria Remarque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-maria-remarque/) > [A man in a bookstore buys a book on loneliness and every woman in the store hits on him. A woman buys a book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/a-man-in-a-bookstore-buys-a-book-on-loneliness-and-every-woman-in-the/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [For years mental health professionals taught people that they could be psychologically healthy without social support, that “unless you love yourself, no one else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-d-perry/for-years-mental-health-professionals-taught-people-that-they-could/) [Bruce D. Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-d-perry/) > [There, in the center of that silence was not eternity but the death of time and a loneliness so profound the word itself had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/there-in-the-center-of-that-silence-was-not-eternity-but-the-death-of/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [Don't let 'being single' make you feel like a loner. Its better to be alone. Relationships arent cures for loneliness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/don-t-let-being-single-make-you-feel-like-a-loner-its-better-to-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“In the parking lot, she drove and parked in a dark area with no other cars around. She reclined her seat, and listened to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tao-lin/in-the-parking-lot-she-drove-and-parked-in-a-dark-area-with-no-other/) [Tao Lin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tao-lin/) > [Attempt to be creative for the joy it brings… Select something like music, dance, sculpture, or poetry. Being creative will help you enjoy life.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-g-scott/attempt-to-be-creative-for-the-joy-it-brings-select-something-like/) [Richard G. Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-g-scott/) > [Get away from me misery, get away from me loneliness, get away from me fake bitches I can't take the phoniness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kanye-west/get-away-from-me-misery-get-away-from-me-loneliness-get-away-from-me/) [Kanye West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kanye-west/) [Browse all 4,995 Loneliness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loneliness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Loneliness is solitude with a problem.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Maggie Nelson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/loneliness-is-solitude-with-a-problem/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Loneliness" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/loneliness-is-solitude-with-a-problem/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/maggie-nelson-4294_loneliness_loneliness-is-solitude-with-a-problem-30_3092618.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/maggie-nelson-4294_loneliness_loneliness-is-solitude-with-a-problem-30_3092618.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/maggie-nelson-4294_loneliness_loneliness-is-solitude-with-a-problem-30_3092618.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Loneliness is solitude with a problem.” — Maggie Nelson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Maggie Nelson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Loneliness is solitude with a problem.", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/loneliness-is-solitude-with-a-problem/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/loneliness-is-solitude-with-a-problem/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```