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Confinement Quotes

Solitude, writing, and the mind

Several writers compare their craft to solitary confinement, describing long stretches spent Alone with only their own books for company.

The writing life is essentially one of solitary confinement - if you can't deal with this, you needn't apply.

Quotes by Will Self

We are all sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life.

Quotes by Tennessee Williams

To some extent, all authors are a little schizophrenic. We lead most of our lives in solitary confinement, living and breathing the books that we're writing.

Quotes by Sophie Kinsella

How many persons condemned to the horrors of solitary confinement have gone mad - simply because the thinking faculties have lain dormant!

Jules Verne

Alone Quotes

That's the joke about confinement pigs: they taste like whatever sauce you cook them with.

Quotes by Joel Salatin

I cannot concur with those who advocate saving gorillas from extinction by killing and capturing more free-living individuals only to exhibit them in confinement.

Quotes by Dian Fossey

Frequently Asked Questions

How do writers in these quotes compare their work to confinement?
One quote calls the writing life essentially solitary confinement, warning that anyone who can't handle being Alone for long stretches shouldn't attempt it.
Is there a quote about confinement applying to everyone, not just writers?
Yes - one line describes every person as condemned to a kind of solitary confinement within their own skin for as long as they live, treating isolation as a basic human condition rather than a punishment.
What does one quote say about the mental toll of literal solitary confinement?
It asks how many people condemned to real solitary confinement have gone mad simply because their thinking faculties sat dormant too long, a stark warning about prolonged isolation.
Do these quotes suggest all authors share a particular mindset?
One quote argues authors are all a little schizophrenic, spending most of their lives in a kind of confinement, living inside the books they're writing.
What's the common idea running through the confinement quotes?
Each treats isolation, whether chosen as with writing or imposed, as something that reshapes the mind, for better through creative focus or for worse through despair.

Another asks How many people condemned to real solitary confinement have lost their minds simply from prolonged isolation.