"It would do the world good if every man would compel himself occasionally to be absolutely alone. Most of the world s progress has come out of such loneliness"
About this Quote
The subtext is quietly gendered and managerial. "Every man" reads like the default citizen of Barton's world: the striver, the decision-maker, the one whose inner clarity allegedly translates into outer progress. Solitude becomes a kind of executive workshop where ideas are purified of social noise. That’s also why the claim about progress lands: he’s not praising suffering or alienation; he’s praising incubation. Loneliness here is the furnace that turns private doubt into public invention.
Context matters: Barton made his name writing in a culture enthralled by productivity and self-making, and he helped shape the language of modern persuasion. There’s an irony in an advertising pioneer extolling silence, but it’s a useful one. He recognizes that constant social immersion can flatten thought into consensus. The quote works because it flatters ambition while prescribing restraint: step away, not to disappear, but to return with something only you could have made.
Quote Details
| Topic | Loneliness |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Barton, Bruce. (2026, January 16). It would do the world good if every man would compel himself occasionally to be absolutely alone. Most of the world s progress has come out of such loneliness. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-would-do-the-world-good-if-every-man-would-139050/
Chicago Style
Barton, Bruce. "It would do the world good if every man would compel himself occasionally to be absolutely alone. Most of the world s progress has come out of such loneliness." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-would-do-the-world-good-if-every-man-would-139050/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It would do the world good if every man would compel himself occasionally to be absolutely alone. Most of the world s progress has come out of such loneliness." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-would-do-the-world-good-if-every-man-would-139050/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
