Stories last longer: but only by becoming only stories. - John Crowley

Stories were the way People lived. Like paths, they could be traveled in any direction, yet always ran from beginning to end.

With Graham Greene life is a precious, perpetual, snot-sodden whinge.

After many trials the God and his love end happily — tho' not all remember this conclusion — which is less memorable than the moment when everything was lost. Happy endings are all alike; disasters may be unique.