E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Miss is as Good as a Mile (A).
A failure is a failure be it ever so little, and is no more be it ever so great; a narrow escape is an escape, and a more easy one is no more. If I miss the train by one minute, I miss it as much as if it had run a mile from the station; and if I escape an evil by the skin of my teeth, I escape, and he who escapes it easily does no more.
