Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
To be wholly devoted to some intellectual exercise is to have succeeded in life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Success in life comes from total dedication to intellectual pursuits.
In this quote, Robert Louis Stevenson emphasizes the importance of being fully committed to intellectual endeavors as a measure of success in life. He suggests that true fulfillment and achievement arise from deep engagement with thought-provoking activities, highlighting the transformative power of knowledge and learning.
Themes
DevotionIntellectualSuccessLifeExerciseCommitment
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech, one could quote Stevenson to inspire students to dedicate themselves to lifelong learning.
More from Robert Louis Stevenson
All quotes →Like 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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