Such is the cold today that I doubt whether I can go on with my disquisition. On such a day one would need to be of solid emerald or ruby to burn with any flame, & not merely dissolve in grey atoms in the universal grey. I saw no one on Richmond High Street who seemed to be burning with the intensity of ruby or emerald–poor pinched women, absolutely mastered by circumstances, though I did hear one speak of going home to get tea ready, which suggested the possibility of some individual life for her. Diary V: 1, 30 January 1919.

It’s minus one in Ohio today, and I second Woolf’s sentiments.

A thank you to fellow-Ohioan Kimberly Engdahl Coates of Bowling Green State University for the quote, which she shared on Facebook.