Failure on the other hand is infectious. The world is full of charming failures (for all charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others) and unless the writer is quite ruthless with these amiable footlers, they will drag him down with them.

Ch. 16: Outlook Unsettled (p. 136-137) - Enemies of Promise (1938) - Part 2: The Charlock's Shade