Get away and read a book

I do not want to spend too long a time with boring people, but then I do not want to spend too long atime with amusing ones. I find social intercourse fatiguing. Most persons, I think, are bothexhilarated and rested by conversation; to meit has always been an effort. When I was young and stammered badly, to talk forlong singularly exhausted me, and even now that I have to some extent cured myself, it is a strain.It is a relief to me when I can get away and read a book.

William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)