"It is, therefore, only
to those distinguished beings, who can resort to their own bosoms for an
antidote against disquiet, who are fearless of the numerous sacrifices which
virtue may demand, whose souls are endowed with sufficient energy to drive away
the dread of being alone, and whose hearts are susceptible of the pure delights
of domestic felicity, that I pretend to recommend the advantages of Solitude. The
miserable being, in whose bosom the corruptions of the world have already
destroyed the precious gifts of nature; who knows no other pleasure, is
sensible to no other happiness, than what cards or the luxury of a richly
furnished table affords; who disdains all exercise of the understanding, thinks
all delicacy of sentiment unnatural, and, by a brutality almost inconceivable,
laughs at the sacred name of sensibility; must be lost to virtue, and utterly
incapable of pleasure from any operations of his own mind.
**
"The
legion of fantastic fashions, to which a man of pleasure is obliged to
sacrifice his time, impair the rational faculties of his mind, and destroy the
native energies of his soul. Forced continually to lend himself to the
performance of a thousand little triflings, a thousand mean absurdities, he
becomes by habit, frivolous and absurd. The face of things no longer wears its
true and genuine aspect; and his depraved taste loses all relish for rational
entertainment or substantial pleasure. The infatuation seizes on his brain, and
his corrupted heart teems with idle fancies and vain imaginations. These
illusions, however, through which the plainest object comes distorted to his
view, might easily be dispelled. Accustomed to a lonely life, and left to
reflect in calmness and sobriety, during the silence of the solitary hour, upon
the false joys and deceitful pleasures which the parade of visiting and the
glare of public entertainments offer to our view, he would soon perceive and
candidly acknowledge their nothingness and insipidity.**
**
"…I shall show… that
[Solitude] enables man to live independent and alone… that it adds dignity to his character, and gives fresh vigour to the
powers of his mind; that he cannot in any other situation perfect a knowledge
of himself; that it enlarges the sphere of attention, and ripens the seeds of
judgement: in short, that it is from the influence of Solitude alone that
man can hope for the fruition of unbroken
pleasures and never-fading felicity.(emphasis added)
**
"Possessed of such felicity, it must not be attributed to austerity of character, or invincibility of manners, but to a venial error of imagination, if the intercourses of ordinary minds no longer charm us; if we become insensible to their indifference, and careless of their aversion; if in consequence of the superiority of our joys we no longer mix in the noisy pleasures of the world, and shun all society which has numbers only for its recommendation."
"Possessed of such felicity, it must not be attributed to austerity of character, or invincibility of manners, but to a venial error of imagination, if the intercourses of ordinary minds no longer charm us; if we become insensible to their indifference, and careless of their aversion; if in consequence of the superiority of our joys we no longer mix in the noisy pleasures of the world, and shun all society which has numbers only for its recommendation."
Johann Georg
Zimmermann, On Solitude
[Über die Einsamkeit, 1756] (trans. from French by J. B.
Mercier) pp.10-26.