35. Negative-Positive Sentence

My sentence:

A good parent is not always consistent or understanding or wise, but a good parent - always - is honest.

Other examples:

"You can not alter your fate, but you can rise to meet it if you choose."

I jotted this sentence down without noting the author - and now I can't remember! I think it is Stephen Crane - it sounds like Stephen Crane.

"I do not confront it blithely. I confront it with desperate resolution. [...] I do not even expect to do good. But I expect to make a sincere, desperate, lonely battle to remain true to my conception of my life and the way it should be lived, and if this plan can accomplish anything, it shall be accomplished."

Stephen Crane, "Two Letters from Stephen Crane to Nellie Crouse"

Crane writes of his attitude toward what remains of his life whether it "be a short time or a long one." Mr. Crane takes himself very seriously - but it is marvelous reading.