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Robert Louis Stevenson Quotes - Page 3

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To be truly happy is a question of how we begin, and not how we end, of what we want and not what we have.

To be truly happy is a question of how we begin, and not how we end, of what we want and not what we have.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Happiness, Want, Ends
Robert Louis Stevenson (2015). “The Complete Works of Robert Louis Stevenson: Novels, Short Stories, Poems, Plays, Memoirs, Travel Sketches, Letters and Essays (Illustrated Edition): The Entire Opus of Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer, containing Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped, Catriona and A Child's Garden of Verses”, p.4599, e-artnow

All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Speech, Language, Prepared
Robert Louis Stevenson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Robert Louis Stevenson (Illustrated)”, p.5302, Delphi Classics

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Travel, Inspirational Life, Moving
Travels with a Donkey "Cheylard and Luc" (1879)

I consider the success of my day based on the seeds I sow, not the harvest I reap.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Harvest, Reap, Seeds

To miss the joy is to miss everything.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Joy, Missing
Robert Louis Stevenson (2015). “Collected Memoirs, Travel Sketches and Island Literature of Robert Louis Stevenson: Autobiographical Writings and Essays by the prolific Scottish novelist, poet and travel writer, author of Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped & Catriona”, p.249, e-artnow

To hold the same views at forty as we held at twenty is to have been stupefied for a score of years, and take rank, not as a prophet, but as an unteachable brat, well birched and none the wiser. It is as if a ship captain should sail to India from the Port of London; and having brought a chart of the Thames on deck at his first setting out, should obstinately use no other for the whole voyage.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Years, Views, London
Robert Louis Stevenson (1999). “The Lantern-Bearers and Other Essays”, p.63, Cooper Square Press

The price we have to pay for money is sometimes liberty.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Money, Liberty, Pay

He who sows hurry reaps indigestion.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Indigestion, Reap

The difficulty is not to write, but to write what you mean.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Writing, Mean, Literature

You cannot run away from weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?

Robert Louis Stevenson
Inspirational, Motivational, Running
Robert Louis Stevenson (2015). “Collected Memoirs, Travel Sketches and Island Literature of Robert Louis Stevenson: Autobiographical Writings and Essays by the prolific Scottish novelist, poet and travel writer, author of Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped & Catriona”, p.288, e-artnow

Marriage is like life - it is a field of battle, not a bed of roses.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Flower, Bed Of Roses, Battle

Being happy enables you to be free from domination by the outside world.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Happiness, World, Domination

There is but one art, to omit.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Art, Editors
Letter to R. A. M. Stevenson, Oct. 1883

Friends: People who know you well, but like you anyway. The cruelest lies are often told in silence.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Lying, People, Silence

Sir, with no intention to take offence, I deny your right to put words into my mouth.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Mouths, Treasure Island, Intention
Robert Louis Stevenson (2016). “Treasure Island”, p.39, Aegitas

There is only one difference between a long life and a good dinner: that, in the dinner, the sweets come last.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Funny, Life, Sweet
Robert Louis Stevenson (2014). “My Best Short Stories (Annotated Edition)”, p.75, Jazzybee Verlag

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Life, Sports, Hope
Virginibus Puerisque "El Dorado" (1881)

Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Business, Work, Men
Robert Louis Stevenson (1999). “The Lantern-Bearers and Other Essays”, p.40, Cooper Square Press

I have resolved that from this day on, I will do all the business I can honestly, have all the fun I can reasonably, do all the good I can willingly, and save my digestion by thinking pleasantly.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Fun, Thinking, Digestion

Everyone who got where he is has had to begin where he was.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Success, Starting Over, Achievement

In the law of God, there is no statute of limitations.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Law, Limits, Statutes
Robert Louis Stevenson (2016). “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, p.19, Robert Louis Stevenson

Do not write merely to be understood. Write so you cannot possibly be misunderstood.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Writing, Misunderstood, Understood

A man met a lad weeping. "What do you weep for?" he asked. "I am weeping for my sins," said the lad. "You must have little to do," said the man. The next day, they met again. Once more the lad was weeping. "Why do you weep now?" asked the man. "I am weeping because I have nothing to eat," said the lad. "I thought it would come to that," said the man.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Men, Next Day, Littles
Robert Louis Stevenson (2015). “The Complete Works of Robert Louis Stevenson: Novels, Short Stories, Poems, Plays, Memoirs, Travel Sketches, Letters and Essays (Illustrated Edition): The Entire Opus of Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer, containing Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped, Catriona and A Child's Garden of Verses”, p.3462, e-artnow

He is not dead, this friend; not dead, Gone some few, trifling steps ahead, And nearer to the end; So that you, too, once past the bend, Shall meet again, as face to face, this friend You fancy dead.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Death, Past, Gone
Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson, Sidney Colvin, William Ernest Henley (1918). “The Novels and Tales of Robert Louis Stevenson”

To have suffered ... sets a keen edge on what remains of the agreeable. This is a great truth and has to be learned in the fire.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Fire, Suffering, Remains
Robert Louis Stevenson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Robert Louis Stevenson (Illustrated)”, p.6372, Delphi Classics

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