Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.
Interpretation
Valuing personal preferences over societal norms is essential for preserving one's true self.
This quote emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and personal choice, suggesting that to truly understand and embrace one's preferences and desires, rather than passively acquiescing to societal expectations, is vital for maintaining one's individuality and spirit. It underscores the idea that true fulfillment comes from being in touch with one's own values and beliefs.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth.
Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Like a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.
That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much.
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.
The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions.
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.
Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves...At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer.
...That genius is a rare exception (:) It's not true. Talent and genius have been wasted on enormous scale throughout our history; this is all I know for sure.
Every person you meet has a lesson to teach, a story to tell and a dream to share.
I want everyone to tell me the truth, even if it costs him his job.
High thoughts must have high language.
The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.
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