Was it really some other person I was so anxious to discover...or was it only my own solitude that I could not abide?

Every time a man (myself) gives way to vanity, every time he thinks and lives in order to show off, this is a betrayal. Every time, it has always been the great misfortune of wanting to show off which has lessened me in the presence of the truth. We do not need to reveal ourselves to others, but only to those we love. For then we are no longer revealing ourselves in order to seem but in order to give. There is much more strength in a man who reveals himself only when it is necessary. I have suffered from being alone, but because I have been able to keep my secret I have overcome the suffering of loneliness. To go right to the end implies knowing how to keep one’s secret. And, today, there is no greater joy than to live alone and unknown.

being alone never felt right. sometimes it felt good, but it never felt right.

If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company.

When everyone leaves you it’s loneliness you feel, when you leave everyone else it’s solitude.

Then stirs the feeling infinite, so felt
In solitude, where we are least alone.