Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
We are not content to pass away entirely from the scenes of our delight; we would leave, if but in gratitude, a pillar and a legend.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote expresses the desire to be remembered and to leave a positive legacy after one's life.
Robert Louis Stevenson articulates a common human aspiration: the wish to leave a mark on the world and not to fade away without recognition. It highlights the importance of gratitude and the desire to create something lasting that reflects oneβs joys and experiences, serving as a testament to a life well-lived.
Themes
LegacyRememberGratitudeLifeImpactMemory
In practice
Example use cases
During a eulogy, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of leaving behind cherished memories.
More from Robert Louis Stevenson
All quotes βLike a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
His past was fairly blameless; few men could read the rolls of their life with less apprehension; yet he was humbled to the dust by the many ill things he had done, and raised up again into sober and fearful gratitude by the many he had come so near to doing, yet avoided.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
It is the history of our kindnesses that alone make this world tolerable. If it were not for that, for the effect of kind words, kind looks, kind letters . . . I should be inclined to think our life a practical jest in the worst possible spirit.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
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