"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavour." Truman Capote, quoted as "Thought du jour" in Social Studies in Globe & Mail December 14, 2007

"At the non-stop treason trial which is history, Kierkegaard stands convicted of working as an undercover agent for God." Malcolm Muggeridge A Third Testament (1976) in Ian Hunter, ed., The Very Best of Malcolm Muggeridge.

"Generally speaking (there are beautiful exceptions), generally speaking, if a man acts, but does not talk, it is because the action he is performing will not bear talking about." G.K. Chesterton in Illustrated London News Feb. 2, 1907, quoted in Gilbert! Vol. 7 #5 (March 2004)

"Nothing fails like success" Dean Inge

"That’s the key to comedy; allowing yourself to look stupid." Megan Mullally in Ladies’ Home Journal

"Remember that if the opportunities for great deeds should never come, the opportunities for good deeds are renewed day by day. The thing for us to long for is the goodness, not the glory." F.W. Faber

So here's a happy story. We had a great time at Universal Orlando Resort a few weeks ago but, in what I expect is an all-too-common end-of-day experience, a happily exhausted kid lost a souvenir Ollivanders wand on a shuttle bus. And now it's back. Having contacted Universal to express appreciation over an unrelated matter during our visit, I decided to ask whether anyone happened to find it and turn it in. No one had. But Universal insisted on sending a replacement free of charge anyway. (A Hermione Granger model, if you're curious. And yes, Diagon Alley is well worth a visit. So small from the outside, so big from the inside. Almost like... magic.) And yesterday a courier package arrived with the wand in it.

What great customer service, on top of excellent rides and other attractions.

Thanks, Universal. Or in the spirit of Harry Potter, vobis gratias ago.

"We can’t always be happy, but we must strive always to be cheerful." Irving Kristol