How Interesting

"I have noticed that when all the lights are
on, people tend to talk about what they are
doing - their outer lives. Sitting round in
candlelight or firelight, people start to talk
about how they are feeling - their inner lives.
They speak subjectively, they arque less,
there are longer pauses. To sit alone without
any electric light is curiously creative. I have
my best ideas at dawn or at nightfall, but not
if I switch on the lights - then I start
thinking about projects, deadlines, demands,
and the shadows and shapes of the house
become objects, not suggestions, things
that need to done, not a background to
thought."
Why I Adore the Night (Jeanette
Winterson)