Solitude is to be preserved, not as a luxury but as a necessity:

Reflections at Pawtuckaway State Park, 7/11/11   J. Stimmell

Solitude is to be preserved, not as a luxury but as a necessity: not for "perfection" so much as for simple "survival" in the life God has given you. Hence, you must know when, how, and to whom you must say "no." This involves considerable difficulty at times. You must not hurt people, or want to hurt them, yet you must not placate them at the price of infidelity to higher and more essential values.

–From Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander by Thomas Merton