“History ... with its long, leisurely, gentlemanly labors, the books arriving by post, the cards to be kept and filed, the sections to be copied, the documents to be checked, is the ideal pursuit for the New England mind.” MindLongBookHistoryIdealsLaborEnglandPursuitCardsPostsDocumentsSectionsArrivingNew EnglandGentlemanly Book:A View of My Own: Essays on Literature and Society Source: A View of My Own: Essays on Literature and Society
“Many people believe letters the most personal and revealing form of communication. In them, we expect to find the charmer at his nap, slumped, open-mouthed, profoundly himself without thought for appearances. Yet, this is not quite true. 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 conversation, those uneasy eyes upon you, those lips ready with an emendation before you have begun to speak, are a powerful deterrent to unreality, even to hope.” PeopleBelieveMeanSelfEyeFormPurposeSpeakPowerfulReadyCommunicationConversationSpeechIdealsLettersMethodLipsAppearanceRevealingNapsUneasyUnrealityDeterrentCharmers Book:The Collected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick Source: The Collected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick
“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.” InspirationalMeanSelfDesirePurposePracticeCommunicationShapesIdealsLettersMethodReformHumiliationEmbarrassing Book:The Collected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick Source: The Collected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick
