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.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Destroying unread letters erases the living connection they once held, losing something beautiful and immediate for both sender and receiver.
- In plain terms
- Throwing away letters we never read destroys a precious, shared moment.
- What can you take from it?
- Preserve correspondence to keep its emotional value alive.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What does a lost letter represent to you?
- Can digital copies replace the feeling of a handwritten note?
Another view
Sometimes letters are discarded for practical reasons, not just discretion.
More from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.
Permalink to quote #147 What one knows, one sees.
Permalink to quote #149 We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
Permalink to quote #146
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