Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
I have done my fiddling so long under Vesuvius that I have almost forgotten to play, and can only wait for the eruption and think it long of coming. Literally no man has more wholly outlived life than I. And still it's good fun.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the balance between living life actively and waiting passively for opportunities.
Robert Louis Stevenson expresses a contemplative acknowledgment of time spent in a state of inactivity, likening it to waiting under the looming presence of a volcano. While he feels he has almost forgotten the enjoyment of 'playing' or fully engaging in life, he appreciates the fun that still exists in his reflections on life, even in a seemingly dormant state.
Themes
LifeReflectionWaitingEngagementEnjoyment
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about seizing the day and making the most of one’s time.
More from Robert Louis Stevenson
All quotes →Like 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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