The article, by one of the authors of the book "Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care," has three goals. The first is to recap the "problem with quality," the starting point for the book. The second is to summarise the argument in "Beyond Quality" for problematising the concept of quality, and why, therefore, "quality" is a choice and not a necessity. Lastly, it is to examine the paradox of "Beyond Quality" and, in so doing, to worry away at a troubling issue: Why has it proven so hard to get beyond quality? Why does it exert such a strong gravitational pull?