There is a Chinese saying: One who does not know how to smile has no business to be in business. How much truer is this of people engaged in the business of diplomacy!
Unfortunately this isn't a scare-line, but a frozen truth, and it behooves every druggist to provide himself with ice-economizers.
Schmoozing patterns are similarly consistent. When men gather in groups to stand and talk, they show a distinct liking for certain kinds of places. They are, for one thing, strongly attracted by pillars and flagpoles, obeying a primeval instinct, perhaps, to have something solid at their backs. They also favor edges. Schmoozers do not stand often or long in the middle of big plazas.
[…] a well-worn pathway courted us / To one green wicket in a privet hedge […]
