The habit of common and continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency. It proceeds from not knowing what is going on in other people's minds.
Source: Hartley Coleridge (1852; repr. in Literary Studies, vol. 1, 1878).
-- Walter Bagehot, (Feb 3 1826-1877), English economist, editor, critic, analyst; He founded and edited The Economist 1860-77; wrote English Constitution, 1867.