failure-the

Updated: May 7, 2025

Paul damned the party. He was in the overwrought mood in which a man damns everything. Quagmire and bramble and the derision of Olympus-that was the end of his vanity of an existence. Suppose he was elected what then? He would be a failure-the high gods in their mirth would see to that a puppet in Frank Ayres' hands until the next general election, when he would have ignominiously to retire.

William John Locke - The Fortunate Youth