The time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself.

The line reframes loneliness as a signal rather than a deficit: when the urge is to seek company to numb discomfort, the deeper need may be solitude that allows self-contact. It suggests that loneliness can arise from disconnection from one’s own thoughts, values, or emotions, and that being alone—deliberately, not as abandonment—can restore that connection. The paradox also critiques reflexive social distraction (crowds, relationships, media) as a way of avoiding inner work. Read this way, the quote advocates a kind of emotional self-reliance: learning to tolerate and listen to loneliness so it can point toward reflection, recalibration, and renewed capacity to relate to others more honestly.