Being alone doesn’t automatically equate with misery. French writer Michel de Montaigne famously removed himself from public life and retreated to a tower on his country estate, where he wrote about the joys of sitting with oneself in his enduring piece “On Solitude,” published in 1580. Being alone doesn’t automatically equate with misery. French writer Michel de Montaigne famously removed himself from public life and retreated to a tower on his country estate, where he wrote about the joys of sitting with oneself in his enduring piece “On Solitude,” published in 1580. Social Sciences Phys.org – latest science and technology news stories