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 on it, they are wrong.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Morals should bring joy and fulfillment; if they don't, they might be misguided.
This quote emphasizes that true morals should not lead to feelings of gloom or unease. Instead, they should inspire positivity and a sense of rightness within us. If adhering to certain morals causes dreariness, it suggests those morals might not be aligned with our true values and understanding of life.
Themes
MoralsHappinessJoyFulfillmentGuidance
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a discussion about ethical dilemmas to emphasize the importance of joyful morals.
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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