Sentimental Education

JOEY
So what is the best ending
in all of literature?
Don't say Ulysses.
Everyone says Ulysses.

PROF WILDER
That's easy. Sentimental Education
by Flaubert.

JOEY
And what happens?

PROF WILDER
Nothing really. Just two friends sitting around,
remembering the best thing that never
happened to them.

JOEY
How do you remember something
that never happened?

PROF WILDER
Fondly. You see, Flaubert believed that
anticipation was the purest form of pleasure.
And the most relaible.
And that while the things that actually
happen to you would invariably disappoint,
the things that never happened to you
would never dim ... never fade.
They would always be engraved
in your heart with a sort of sweet sadness ...

[from an episode of Dawson's Creek]