Crossword puzzle clue "more than breaking even"

More than breaking even

Writing form even more constrained than a tweet

"I will always wear black; even when I enjoy a concert I will never do more than sway disaffectedly," etc.

"The ___ have shown me more ways to lose than I even knew existed." (Casey Stengel)

Breaking even

Even or close to even, in a tennis set

Hamlet's "A little more than kin, and less than kind," e.g.

"Nothing is easier than to denounce the ___; nothing is more difficult than to understand him": Dostoyevsky