“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.”

— Salman Rushdie , Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Source: Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Happy endings must come at the end of something,' the Walrus pointed out. 'If they happen in the middle of a story, or …" by Salman Rushdie?

Salman Rushdie photo

Salman Rushdie 122

British Indian novelist and essayist 1947

Related quotes

“A happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story”

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet

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

Peter S. Beagle book The Last Unicorn

The Last Unicorn (1968)
Context: The true secret in being a hero lies in knowing the order of things. … Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a very long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.

“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.”

Jeanette Winterson book Lighthousekeeping

Source: Lighthousekeeping (2004), p. 49

“That’s how stories happen — with a turning point, an unexpected twist. There’s only one kind of happiness, but misfortune comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

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

James Clavell (1921–1994) American novelist

Interview with Don Swaim (1986)
Interview with Don Swaim (1986)

“I know that happy things and fun things eventually come to an end. But things that are scary and sad come to an end too… they always do. Even if you can't always believe that, please don't give up. Live.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Source: Fruits Basket, Vol. 21

“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”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

“This is why we call people exes, I guess -- because the paths that cross in the middle end up separating at the end. It's too easy to see an X as a cross-out. It's not, because there's no way to cross out something like that. The X is a diagram of two paths.”

John Green book Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Will Grayson, p. 277
Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2010)

“We’d turn our lives into a terrible adventure. A true-life horror story with a happy ending. A trial we’d survive to talk about.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted

“If you don't do anything, you simply end up overwhelmed by something happening.”

Matsuri Hino Japanese manga artist

Related topics