“Herein lies the problem.  If women were convinced that a day off or an hour of solitude was a reasonable ambition, they would find a way of attaining it.  As it is, they feel so unjustified in their demand that they rarely make the attempt.  One has only to look at those women who actually have the economic means or the time and energy for solitude yet do not use it, to realize that the problem is not solely economic.  It is more a question of inner convictions than of outer pressures, though, of course, the outer pressures are there and make it more difficult.  As far as the search for solitude is concerned, we live in a negative atmosphere as invisible, as all-pervasive, and as enervating as high humidity on an August afternoon.  The world today does not understand, in either man or woman, the need to be alone.

“How inexplicable it seems.  Anything else will be accepted as a better excuse.  If one sets aside time for a business appointment, a trip to the hairdresser, a social engagement, or a shopping expedition, that time is accepted as inviolable.  But if one says: I cannot come because that is my hour to be alone, one is considered rude, egotistical or strange.  What a commentary on our civilization, when being alone is considered suspect; when one has to apologize for it, make excuses, hide the fact that one practices it–like a secret vice.”