retreatise (retreatief) -i-

"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." 

Johann Georg Zimmermann, On Solitude 

[Über die Einsamkeit, 1756] (trans. from French by J. B. Mercier) pp.10-26.