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It is only possible to succeed at second-rate pursuits..like becoming a millionaire or a prime minister, winning a war, seducing beautiful women, flying through the stratosphere or landing

on the moon.  First-rate pursuits involving, as they must, trying to understand what life is about and trying to convey that understanding..inevitably results in failure.  A Napoleon, a Churchill, a Roosevelt can feel themselves to be successful, but never a Socrates, a Pascal, a Blake.  Understanding is for ever unattainable.  Therein lies the inevitability of failure in embarking upon its quest, which is none the less the only one worthy of serious attention.

--Malcom Muggeridge....Through the Microphone (1969)