I was thinking of this question today (two days later) and comparing hermits with monks. We may think of both in connection with an austere contemplative life secluded from the world, but in some respects they are more like opposites. I am thinking of the Zen teacher who compared the monastic life to a bag of pebbles: they keep bumping against one another and eventually wear each other smooth.
In contrast, think what kind of odd lumps and bumps of eccentricity a hermit must develop over time, with no one to polish them away through friction. What a curious bunch we would all be without all the social strictures and compromises it takes to get along! I wonder what you and I and he and they would be like—what we would all really be like—if we let ourselves be who would be as hermits.