What is letter?

Famous quotes containing the word letter:

“A letter with it
discloses, in its words and between them,
a life opening, fearful, fearless,
thousand-eyed, a field
of sparks that move swiftly
in darkness....”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)

“‘Tis the curse of service,
Preferment goes by letter and affection,
And not by old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to th’ first.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

“Your letter of excuses has arrived. I receive the letter but do not admit the excuses except in courtesy, as when a man treads on your toes and begs your pardon—the pardon is granted, but the joint aches, especially if there is a corn upon it.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)