the leaves in the stream move without a plan
the clouds in the valley drift without design
The Mountain Poems of Stonehouse, 57
It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met.
Kenkō and Chōmei Essays in Idleness and Hōjōki, 27
I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.
Henry David Thoreau Walden, 430