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.

Why I adore the night | Jeanette Winterson