“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 argue 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.”
~ Jeanette Winterson
References
Winterson, J. (2009, October 31). Why I adore the night. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/31/jeanette-winterson-night-guide