You mistake your ability to speak in a crowd for a permanent gift you carry inside you. That eloquence vanishes when you are alone with those who truly know your thought, just as a dial shows no time in the shade. Do not wait for a great audience to prove your mind; seek only two souls to test it against before the sun sets.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
@emerson · October 30, 2026
“Conversation is an evanescent relation,—no more.”