“The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.”

“Happy endings must come at the end of something,' the Walrus pointed out. 'If they happen in the middle of a story, or an adventure, or the like, all they do is cheer things up for awhile.”

“Tell me a story, Pew.
What kind of story, child?
A story with a happy ending.
There's no such thing in all the world.
As a happy ending?
As an ending.”

“All stories have a beginning, a middle and an ending, and if they're any good, the ending is a beginning.”

“A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.”

“Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Not necessarily in that order.”

“True stories seldom have endings.
I don't want a happy ending, I want more story.”

“Some stories don’t have happy endings. Even love stories. Maybe especially love stories.”

“I love stories with a happy ending,” Inspector Me said.”

“Once you call something a story, it's set in stone. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end that can't be transformed, because by definition, if you do that, it's not the same story anymore”