" Your portrait have I said? but a letter is the portrait of the soul; it has not, like a cold image, that degree of stagnation so opposite to love; it yields to all our actions by turns; it becomes animated, gives us enjoyment, and sinks into repose — All your sentiments are precious to me; and will you deprive me of the means of becoming possessed of them? "

― Pierre Choderlos de Laclos , Les Liaisons dangereuses