A man is great only when he is alone. He loses his sense of grandeur as soon as he is no longer alone. There is only one misfortune - not being able to be content with yourself, to feel the need for something else. Even the most beautiful friendship is already an excess. You must always be prepared to lose it.

The book by the philosopher Marcel Jouandeau (1888–1979) is dedicated to ways to achieve true greatness, which is invariably associated with loneliness, introspection and self-indulgence.

Only those who can turn away from others in order to live their own inner life are free. The highest degree of wretchedness is not to be delighted, not to be intoxicated by what you have and who you are.