Beautiful Lines From 10 Historic Letters
Though humans have been sending correspondence in one form or another since antiquity, the 18th century is often considered the great age of letter writing, when postal routes expanded rapidly and the epistolary novel emerged as a popular genre.
Throughout much of the following two centuries, letters remained a primary means of communication, from the formal to the extremely personal. They had the power to shape history, and to foment great romances.
Today, with the advent of the telephone and now social media, the art of letter writing has largely been lost — but not completely. Fortunately, we can still read some of the most well-written and memorable letters in history, be they political, romantic, or humorous. Here are some of the best quotes from historic letters, from the hands and minds of Virginia Woolf, Martin Luther King Jr., and more.
This line comes from one of many letters Ludwig van Beethoven wrote to his “Immortal Beloved,” a woman whose identity is unknown, but who may have been a diplomat’s daughter named Antonie Brentano.
Lincoln used this letter to Albert Hodges, editor of the “Frankfort Commonwealth,” to explain his belief in emancipation.
When she was only 20 years old, pioneering journalist Nellie Bly wrote this in a letter to the editor of the “Pittsburgh Dispatch.”
W.E.B. Du Bois wrote these sweet words to his 13-year-old daughter Yolande after she left the family home in New York to study at Bedales School in England.
This letter, which Siegfried Sassoon sent to his commanding officer and which was subsequently read out in the House of Commons, has come to be known as “A Soldier’s Declaration.” The English war poet had previously been awarded the Military Cross for his heroism on the Western Front, but his brave refusal to continue fighting was seen by many as treasonous.
Novelist Vladimir Nabokov wrote this heartfelt expression of love to and for his wife, the former Véra Slonim.
Virginia Woolf wrote this to her lover Vita Sackville-West in one of many increasingly passionate letters exchanged between the two women over the course of a decade.
H.G. Wells wrote this hilarious nonapology to the Mayor of Cambridge, Ernest Saville Peck, after Wells accidentally took the mayor’s hat instead of his own.
The singular John Steinbeck wrote this fatherly advice about love in a letter to his son.
In an open letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. argued that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action to obtain justice. 
