Courtesy toward Artists and Entertainers

Apart from the courtesies that every really well-bred hostess instinctively shows alike to friends, acquaintances, or stranger who are admitted to her house, particular rules that should apply in reference to professional artists do not go very far because so much depends on circumstances. Generally speaking, all entertainers should be admitted at the front door, of course.

--from Emily Post, Etiquette (1960 edition)

* * *

Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It's the same when loves comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.

--from Jack Gilbert, "Failing and Flying"