The things that never happen, are often as much realities to us, in their effects, as those that are accomplished. David Copperfield

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Lady Windermere's Fan

“But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally either in public or private life must have his eye fixed.” Republic

She was of course only too good for him; but as nobody minds having what is too good for them, he was very steadily earnest in the pursuit of the blessing... Mansfield Park