Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.
Interpretation
Focusing solely on one's work can lead to the neglect of important aspects of life.
Robert Louis Stevenson's quote highlights the idea that an intense commitment to one's job or business often comes at the cost of neglecting other vital areas of life, such as relationships, health, and personal growth. It serves as a reminder to strive for balance, as an obsession with work can overshadow the importance of holistic well-being.
In practice
During a keynote speech about work-life balance in the corporate world.
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.
A realized one sends out waves of spiritual influence in his aura, which draw many people towards him. Yet he may sit in a cave and maintain complete silence.
You learn things in adversity that you would never have discovered without trouble. There is always a seed of hope.
People don't really believe in words. Or rather, people believe in words only for a stretch of time. Then they start to look for action.
Positive and negative emotions cannot occupy the mind at the same time. One or the other must dominate. It is your responsibility to make sure that positive emotions constitute the dominating influence of your mind. Here the law of HABIT will come to your aid. Form the habit of applying and using the positive emotions! Eventually, they will dominate your mind so completely, that the negatives cannot enter it.
It is not the rich man you should properly call happy, _x000D_ but him who knows how to use with wisdom the blessings of the gods, _x000D_ to endure hard poverty, and who fears dishonor worse than death, _x000D_ and is not afraid to die for cherished friends or fatherland.
The right question is usually more important than the right answer.
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