“A 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”