"If the way to the Better there be, it exacts a full look at the Worst."
- "In Tenebris II" by Thomas Hardy
I have found this to be true.
I found this quotation on the frontispiece to "Lost Honor" by John W. Dean III (Counsel to President Nixon), which I just bought at the thrift store and may review here if I get around to reading it. (I have to finish "First Baptist" first).
VM