Hermit Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old hermit quotes, hermit sayings, and hermit proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Politicians need religion even more than a hermit in retreat. If a hermit acts out of bad motivation, he harms no one but himself. But if someone who can directly influence the whole of society acts with bad motivation, then a great number of people will be adversely affected. Dalai Lama
To live as a hermit is to be untrammeled by things of the world; it is like drawing a length of bamboo out from a dense thicket. Kyobutsu
You can't be a complete hermit, but you have to make sure you aren't influenced. Bruce Woodbury
A certain recluse, I know not who, once said that no bonds attached him to this life, and the only thing he would regret leaving was the sky. Kenko Yoshida
True literature can exist only where it is created, not by diligent and trustworthy functionaries, but by madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels, and skeptics. Yevgeny Zamyatin
Unless you live alone in a cave or hermitage, cooking and eating are social activities: even hermit monks have one communal meal a month. The sharing of food is the basis of social life, and to many people it is the only kind of social life worth participating in. Laurie Colwin
Etiquette is all human social behavior. If you're a hermit on a mountain, you don't have to worry about etiquette; if somebody comes up the mountain, then you've got a problem. It matters because we want to live in reasonably harmonious communities. Judith Martin
Mankind have such a deep stake in inward illumination, that there is much to be said by the hermit or monk in defence of his life of thought and prayer. Ralph Waldo Emerson
There are no small number of people in this world who, solitary by nature, always try to go back into their shell like a hermit crab or a snail. Anton Chekhov
Far in a wild, unknown to public view, From youth to age a reverend hermit grew; The moss his bed, the cave his humble cell, His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well, Remote from man, with God he pass'd the days; Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise. Thomas Parnell
The thoughtful man becomes a hermit in the thoroughfares of the marketplace. Henry David Thoreau
The people who know God well—mystics, hermits, prayerful people, those who risk everything to find God—always meet a lover, not a dictator. Richard Rohr
Hermits have no peer pressure. Steven Wright
A hermit is simply a person to whom civilization has failed to adjust itself. Will Cuppy
The mind is not a hermit's cell, but a place of hospitality and intercourse. Charles Horton Cooley
The mind can weave itself warmly in the cocoon of its own thoughts, and dwell a hermit anywhere. James Russell Lowell
The hermit doesn't sleep at night, in love with the blue of the vacant moon. The cool of the breeze that rustles the trees rustles him too. ChingAn
A recluse without books and ink is already in life a dead man. Alfred Nobel
Everything can be a trap. A hermit goes to a cave to get out of all worldly attachments and then gets attached to the cave. If we miss the point, then everything becomes a trap. Baba Hari Das
You are what you eat. For example, if you eat garlic you're apt to be a hermit. Franklin P. Jones
The only way to avoid all frightening choices is to leave society and become a hermit, and that is a frightening choice. Richard Bach
A hermit is one who renounces the world of fragments that he may enjoy the world wholly and without interruption. Khalil Gibran
They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of Him as somewhat of a recluse. Emily Dickinson
Consciousness is a born hermit. George Santayana
A fine line separates the weary recluse from the fearful hermit. Finer still is the line between hermit and bitter misanthrope. Dean Koontz
A hermit, aware of such unworldly joy, finds truth from scenes of rock walls, sunset glow, mountain caves and clouds. ... A decent person needs to empty his heart for room for newly realized truth as well as to fill his heart at the same time, leaving no room for worldly desires. Choi Joon-ho
Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room; And hermits are contented with their cells. William Wordsworth
A hermit is a deserter from the army of humanity. Anonymous
Something of the hermit's temper is an essential element in many forms of excellence, since it enables men to resist the lure of popularity, to pursue important work in spite of general indifference or hostility, and arrive at opinions which are opposed to prevalent errors. Bertrand Russell
Not all of us are called to be hermits, but all of us need enough silence and solitude in our lives to enable the deeper voice of our own self to be heard at least occasionally. Thomas Merton
Sometimes the idea of living as a hermit appeals to all of us. No demands, no needs, no pain, no disappointments. But that is because we have been hurt, are worn out. John Eldredge
If a hermit lives in a state of ecstasy, his lack of comfort becomes the height of comfort. He must relinquish it. Jean Cocteau
But I'll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything. Alan Watts

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