In a man's letters, you know, madam, his soul lies naked. His letters are only the mirror of his heart. Whatever passes within him is there shown undisguised in its natural progress; nothing is invented, nothing distorted; you see systems in their elements, you discover action in their motives. Samuel Johnson to Mrs. Thrale (1777)

- Michael Kelahan, The World's Greatest Love Letters

Reading all my old love letters was disorienting. You remember thinking the thoughts and writing the words but, man, you can't TOUCH those feelings. Its like they belonged to someone else. Someone you don't even know. I'm aware, in an intellectual way. That I felt all those things about him, but this emotions are far away now.What's so strange to me is that I can't even force my heart back to that place where I felt that all consuming passion. That makes me feel distant from myself. Who WAS I then? Will I ever be able to get back to that place? Reading the letters again made me wonder: Which is the real me? The one who saw the world in that emotionally saturated way, or the me who sees it the way I do now?

- Bill Shapiro, Other People's Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See

A letter is the most basic—yet the most flexible—mode of correspondence, regardless of its subject matter.

- Scribendi, How to Write a Letter

I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it sho

- Blaise Pascal, The Provincial Letters

A real love letter is made of insight, understanding, and compassion. Otherwise it's not a love letter. A true love letter can produce a transformation in the other person, and therefore in the world. But before it produces a transformation in the other person, it has to produce a transformation within us. Some letters may take the whole of our lifetime to write.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, Your True Home: The Everyday Wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh: 365 days of practical, powerful teachings from the beloved Zen teacher

A love letter can be very short or it can be long; it can be literary or non-literary; it can be bright or dark, cheerful or tragic. But above all, for a love letter to be a love letter it must be sincere!

- Mehmet Murat ildan

Because thou writest me often, I thank thee ... Never do I receive a letter from thee, but immediately we are together.

- Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

Inrealized how valuable the art and practice of writing letters are, and how important it is to remind people of what a treasure letters--handwritten letters--can be. In our throwaway era of quick phone calls, faxes, and email, it's all to easy never to find the time to write letters. That's a great pity--for historians and the rest of us.

- Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan

Darling,You asked me to write you a letter, so I am writing you a letter. I do not know why I am writing you this letter, or what this letter is supposed to be about, but I am writing it nonetheless, because I love you very much and trust that you have some good purpose for having me write this letter. I hope that one day you will have the experience of doing something you do not understand for someone you love.Your father

- Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Becoming an effective letter writer means analyzing each situation individually and choosing the form of correspondence accordingly.

- Scribendi, How to Write a Letter