The philosopher was Seneca, the great Stoic. In one of his letters to Lucilius (Letter 56) he says he lodges right over a bath, and he lists every noise that comes up through the floor: the weightlifters grunting and hissing out their breath (some only pretending to work hard), the masseur's slap, which sounds different for a flat hand and a cupped one, a ball player counting his points, the man who loves his own voice in the bath, people jumping into the pool, the armpit plucker shouting for customers and silent only while his customer screams instead, and the sausage and cake sellers, each with his own little song.

His point: noise is outside, calm is inside. What good is a silent street if your mind is shouting?

Then comes the last paragraph. He admits that sometimes it is easier to just get away from the noise. He is moving out.

This is why Finns build their saunas by a quiet lake.

Where do you go when you need quiet?

Sources: Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius 56 (Latin text, public domain); English quotes from Thomas Morell's translation (London, 1786, public domain).
Sounds: Freesound contributors, CC0.