Correspondences are like small clothes before the invention of suspenders; it is impossible to keep them up.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
A letter from the heart can be read on the face.
—African Proverb
A letter shows the man it is written to as well as the man it is written by.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
What a wonderful thing is the mail, capable of conveying across continents a warm human hand-clasp.
—Unknown
He who writes love letters must have clammy hands.
—German Proverb
To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart.
—Phyllis Theroux (b.1939) American Journalist, Author
The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters is simplicity: nothing is better than simplicity.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.
—Rene Descartes (1596–1650) French Mathematician, Philosopher
Or don’t you like to write letters. I do because it’s such a swell way to keep from working and yet feel you’ve done something.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
One of the pleasures of reading old letters is the knowledge that they need no answer.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverable for ourselves and for others.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
The true character of epistolary style is playfulness and urbanity.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Let your letter be written as accurately as you are able—I mean as to language, grammar, and stops; but as to the matter of it the less trouble you give yourself the better it will be. Letters should be easy and natural, and convey to the persons to whom we send just what we should say if we were with them.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Friends will write me letters. They run out of room on the front of the letter. They write “over” on the bottom of the letter. Like I’m that much of a moron. Like I need that there. Because if it wasn’t there, I’d get to the bottom of the page: “And so Kathy and I went shopping and we..”. That’s the craziest thing! I don’t know why she would just end it that way.
—Ellen DeGeneres (b.1958) American Comedian, Television Host
It does me good to write a letter which is not a response to a demand, a gratuitous letter, so to speak, which has accumulated in me like the waters of a reservoir.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
A prudent man will read the letter from back to front.
—Turkish Proverb
A woman seldom writes her Mind, but in her Postscript.
—Richard Steele (1672–1729) Irish Writer, Politician
I have received no more than one or two letters in my life that were worth the postage.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Then there’s the joy of getting your desk clean, and knowing that all your letters are answered, and you can see the wood on it again.
—Lady Bird Johnson (1912–2007) First Lady of the United States, Conservationist
If you are in doubt whether to write a letter or not, don’t. And the advice applies to many doubts in life besides that of letter writing.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
A man who publishes his letters becomes a nudist—nothing shields him from the world’s gaze except his bare skin. A writer, writing away, can always fix himself up to make himself more presentable, but a man who has written a letter is stuck with it for all time.
—E. B. White (1985–99) American Essayist, Humorist
There must be millions of people all over the world who never get any love letters… I could be their leader.
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls. For, thus friends absent speak.
—John Donne (1572–1631) English Poet, Cleric
And none will hear the postman’s knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
A Letter is a Joy of Earth –
It is denied the Gods.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
Go to the effort. Invest the time. Write the letter. Make the apology. Take the trip. Purchase the gift. Do it. The seized opportunity renders joy. The neglected brings regret.
—Max Lucado (b.1955) American Christian Author, Minister
It is by the benefit of letters that absent friends are, in a manner, brought together.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
A good face they say, is a letter of recommendation. O Nature, Nature, why art thou so dishonest, as ever to send men with these false recommendations into the World!
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist