"Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after"
About this Quote
The intent is both romantic and disciplined. “Good” here isn’t small talk or polished rhetoric; it’s the rare exchange that actually lands, where another mind presses back and changes your internal temperature. The subtext is that real understanding is not neutral. It produces aftereffects: mental replay, new angles, the inability to return to your old complacency. If you’ve ever had a late-night conversation that made your pulse race hours later, you know the feeling she’s naming. Communication, at its best, is chemistry.
Context matters with Lindbergh: a writer associated with interior life, solitude, and the hard-won clarity of reflection. Her work often asks what modern life does to attention and intimacy. In that light, the coffee metaphor reads like a defense of talk that refuses to be “well-adjusted.” It’s an argument for conversation as an event - exhilarating, disruptive, and worth the insomnia. The line flatters the listener while admitting the cost: connection can be energizing enough to steal your rest.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Source | Attributed to Anne Morrow Lindbergh; commonly cited in Gift from the Sea (1955). Often quoted as “Good conversation is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.” |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. (2026, January 14). Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/good-communication-is-just-as-stimulating-as-42591/
Chicago Style
Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. "Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after." FixQuotes. January 14, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/good-communication-is-just-as-stimulating-as-42591/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after." FixQuotes, 14 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/good-communication-is-just-as-stimulating-as-42591/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.











