"<p>And the formalities must be adhered to until the last minute. During meals, during conversation. In bed and at the table. And when human coexistence becomes more and more formless: you remain faithful to the established, ultimate and crystalline forms of greeting, bowing, shaking hands, expressing feelings, forming opinions. In an age when everyone demands that you wear a formal dress, you must wear a jacket consistently, and in the evening, if you are invited to company, you must wear black. Not for the dress, but for the form.</p> <p>Literacy is not saved only by books. Literacy is saved by the little reflexes of common days. When an age comes at you with raised fists, you say hello back, calmly and politely, by raising your hat.</p> <p>You can't do anything else.</p>"