Quote of the Day (Samuel Johnson, on Socializing)

“Sir, I look upon every day to be lost, in which I do not make a new acquaintance.”—English man of letters Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) quoted by James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

That comment from Dr. Johnson should be borne in mind when we try to calculate the losses incurred by the widespread isolation in the days after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Quote of the Day (Noel Coward, on the Urge to ‘Go Out and Be Social’)

“I've got to be bright
And extremely polite
 And refrain from becoming too loose or too tight
And I mustn't impose conversational blight
On the dolt on my left
And the fool on my right.
I must really be very attractive tonight
As I have got to go out and be social.”—English playwright, composer and bon vivant Sir Noel Coward (1899-1973), “I’ve Got To Go Out and Be Social,” in The Noel Coward Reader, edited by Barry Day (2010)
 
In Coward’s youth—in fact, in the youth of many early in this century—the instinct to “go out and be social” during year-end festivities was seemingly ineradicable. For the last two years, going on the dinner-and-party circuit has been far harder to sustain because of COVID-19.
 
Here’s hoping that in December 2022, the way of life that Coward tweaked will return, and that his witty verses will be understood and chuckled over again.