What I'm trying to do is get this message out about self-empowerment entrepreneurial spirit and true Americanism - the way we were when we changed the world when Edison was alone failing his 2 000th time on the lightbulb.

I have no time for those who say there is no way Scotland could go it alone. I know first-hand the contribution Scotland and Scots make to Britain's success - so for me there's no question about whether Scotland could be an independent nation.

Our world is so glutted with useless information images useless images sounds all this sort of thing. It's a cacophony it's like a madness I think that's been happening in the past twenty-five years. And I think anything that can help a person sit in a room alone and not worry about it is good.

We all get stuck. We all lose ourselves a little bit in a fantasy or in our jobs and forget how we feel about other things. It's really important to check yourself to spend some time alone.

I was always such a people-watcher. I would sit on street corners alone and watch people and make up stories about them in my head. Then all of a sudden I was the one being watched.

When thinking about companions gone we feel ourselves doubly alone.

I'm learning a lot about myself being alone and doing what I'm doing.

We can only know one thing about God - that he is what we are not. Our wretchedness alone is an image of this. The more we contemplate it the more we contemplate him.

Early on if I was alone two three nights in a row I'd start writing poems about suicide.

We learn about life not from plusses alone but from minuses as well.