I like to have a thing suggested rather than told in full. When every detail is given, the mind rests satisfied, and the imagination loses the desire to use its own wings.

Aldrich argues that over-explanation deadens a reader’s imaginative engagement. When a writer supplies “every detail,” the audience becomes passive—mentally “resting satisfied”—because there is nothing left to infer, picture, or emotionally complete. By contrast, suggestion (selective detail, implication, and strategic omission) invites the mind to collaborate with the text, letting imagination “use its own wings.” The quote thus champions an aesthetic of economy and resonance: the most powerful writing often works indirectly, trusting readers to supply connections and images. It also implies a broader theory of art’s pleasure—wonder and participation arise from what is left unsaid as much as from what is stated.