Image credits @mountstreetprinters
Nothing is closer to thinking than writing. This is why writing can be such a treasure for anyone who wants to slow down and think.
Whether you want to keep a journal, perhaps you have an idea for a book or you want to keep detailed notes on a project you want to realise, there is no luxury more affordable than writing.
There are many opportunities to put pen to paper, but few are as rewarding as writing a letter. Capturing your thoughts on paper and sending them can be a gift for both writer and recipient. Not only can letters warm the hearts of recipients and be cherished for years, but they can also stimulate the mind and be read by many throughout time.
Image credits: allthingsbrass.com
Here are three quotes about letters from letters written long ago. They are proof of the humanity and timelessness of letter writing.
“The proper definition of a man is an animal that writes letters.”
- Lewis Carroll
"A letter always seemed to me like immortality because it is the mind alone without corporeal friend.”
- Emily Dickinson
“Letter writing is the only device combining solitude with good company.”
- Lord Byron
Writing a hand written letter takes longer than an electronic message, it shows thoughtfulness and it shows that you care. Letters are lovely to receive and force you to put into words your abstract ideas and feelings. There is also a lot of pleasure to be derived from a nice fountain pen writing on stone paper.
Perhaps you can have your stationary embossed with your initials, but even a blank sheet of paper, a sharp pencil and an hour can be a luxury of writing.
There are many reasons why letters are great. They are an excellent way of slowing down long enough to gather one’s thoughts. A letter is never ill-timed and never interrupts, it waits to be read without any notice or notifications.
In the end, letters are a way to remind the people in your life, with whom you cannot often talk, of their importance to you and a way to never drift apart. That is their greatest and most currently pertinent strength.
Thank you for this sound and elegantly written advice.