Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
There is only one difference between a long life and a good dinner: that, in the dinner, the sweets come last.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life's pleasures are best enjoyed at the end, just like a good meal.
This quote by Robert Louis Stevenson implies that while both life and a dinner can be lengthy experiences, it is the 'sweets' or the moments of joy and fulfillment that should be savored at the end. It suggests that the culmination of our experiences, much like a meal, can be sweet and rewarding if we appreciate the journey and anticipate the pleasures that come later.
Themes
LifeDinnerSweetsPleasuresJourney
In practice
Example use cases
During a toast at a wedding, to emphasize the importance of savoring special moments.
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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