I thrive best on solitude. If I have had a companion only one day in a week, unless it were one or two I could name, I find that the value of the week to me has been seriously affected. It dissipates my days, and often it takes me another week to get over it.

Journal, ed. by B. Torrey, 1837-1846, 1850-Nov. 3, 1861 (ed. 1906)