There is but one failure, and that is, not to be true to the very best one knows

All the way to heaven is heaven

At the root of many a woman's failure to become a great cook lies her failure to develop a workmanlike regard for knives.

Heaven knows that I have done all that a mortal could do, to save the people, and the failure was not my fault, but the fault of others.

Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's wanting to know that makes us matter. Otherwise we're going out the way we came in. That's why you can't believe in the afterlife, Valentine. Believe in the after, by all means, but not the life. Believe in God, the soul, the spirit, the infinite, believe in angels if you like, but not in the great celestial get-together for an exchange of views. If the answers are in the back of the book I can wait, but what a drag. Better to struggle on knowing that failure is final.

At the root of many a woman's failure to become a great cook lies her failure to develop a workmanlike regard for knives.