Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
If your morals make you dreary, depend upon it they are wrong.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Morals should bring joy, not sadness; if they do, something is amiss.
This quote by Robert Louis Stevenson emphasizes that true morals and ethical values should lead to fulfillment and happiness rather than negativity or dreariness. If one's moral compass causes despair or gloominess, it suggests that these morals may be misguided or misinterpreted, indicating the importance of aligning one's values with joy and positivity.
Themes
MoralsHappinessJoyEthicsWell-Being
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about ethical leadership, one might cite this quote to emphasize the importance of positive moral values.
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
Similar quotes
A man has to learn that he cannot command things, but that he can command himself; that he cannot coerce the wills of others, but that he can mold and master his own will: and things serve him who serves Truth; people seek guidance of him who is master of himself.
James AllenRead
Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.
Nassim Nicholas TalebRead
The world is bad but not without hope. It is only hopeless when you look at it from an ideal viewpoint.
Friedrich DurrenmattRead
These teachings are like a raft, to be abandoned once you have crossed the flood. Since you should abandon even good states of mind generated by these teachings, How much more so should you abandon bad states of mind!
Gautama BuddhaRead
Most people can't think, most of the remainder won't think, and the small fraction who do think mostly can't do it very well.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
'Tis healthy to be sick sometimes.
Henry David ThoreauRead