"<p>But we say in vain: "I am not touched by the shackle of the world, nor by its praise! All things are transient" - if we do not feel in our souls that we have done our duty to the world. I have often felt this self-reproach. It is not so difficult to renounce what the world offers in vain recognition, entertainment, social or material satisfaction, and to withdraw from people, to live only for our duties and for the small circle of people whose human service we have undertaken. Nor is it easy to do this, nor is it impossible; our retreat is received with disapproval, for they see in such conduct a contempt and criticism of worldly things; we are called eccentric, but at the same time a certain respect surrounds the morose hermit, and this respect and recognition satisfies our vanity. We are also relieved of much discomfort when we withdraw from people.</p> <p>Yet a voice tells us that we are acting selfishly, conveniently, when we withdraw completely from contact with people, and wander in the desert of our work and our way of life, wrapped in the exalted solitude of the hermit. First of all, in the words of the French, any hermit is suspect who knows the exact timetables - most hermits, out of resentment or feelings of inferiority, know the exact departure times of trains, trains that can take you back to the world! - and around most of the "great loners" there radiates an atmosphere of vanity like the northern lights, which only shine, but do not warm or light. Then, not everyone has the right to be lonely. Only he has a right to solitude, only he has a real right to withdraw from men who can better serve the cause of men in this way. For no one has the right to be lonely out of spleen, out of spleen, pride, or vanity. But if our temperament and the nature of our work, by which we wish to serve men, are such that we need solitude for this, then, only then, may we avoid the company of men. But such a worker and such a work are rare, and the man who chooses solitude should first take a good account of his conscience.</p>"