On the approach of spring I withdraw without reluctance from the noisy and extensive scene of crowds without company, and dissipation without pleasure.

There is a kind of social life that costs everything an evening has and returns nothing. The room is full, the noise is constant, and still nobody says anything to you that you would remember in the morning. Leaving it is not antisocial. It is the recognition that company and crowding are different goods, and that one of them can crowd the other out.

Look at what is on your calendar for the next fortnight and mark which entries you expect to enjoy rather than survive. Decline one of the others, quietly and without a story, and give the evening to a person you actually want to talk to.