Politeness is as much concerned in answering letters within a reasonable time, as it is in returning a bow, immediately. – Lord Chesterfield
The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description one must travel through it ones self to be acquainted with it. – Lord Chesterfield
Style is the dress of thoughts; and let them be ever so just, if your style is homely, coarse, and vulgar, they will appear to as much disadvantage, and be as ill received, as your person, though ever so well-proportioned, would if dressed in rags, dirt, and tatters. – Lord Chesterfield
The only solid and lasting peace between a man and his wife is, doubtless, a separation. – Lord Chesterfield
Letters are above all useful as a means of expressing the ideal self; and no other method of communication is quite so good for this purpose. In letters we can reform without practice, beg without humiliation, snip and shape embarrassing experiences to the measure of our own desires… – Elizabeth Hardwick
I am sorry.. Can only say time accelerated and skidded…. When my correspondents reproach me for tardiness, I can only say that I give as much attention to a letter as I do to anything I write, and I work at least six and sometimes sixteen hours a day. – William S. Burroughs, letter to Mother and Dad, 1959