Quotes & anectdotes from the wise, the foolish, the courageous & the drunk

Robert Louis Stevenson Novelist

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United Kingdom
  • Born: Nov 13, 1850
  • Died: Dec 3, 1894

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

A literary celebrity during his lifetime, Stevenson now ranks among the 26 most translated authors in the world. His works have been admired by many other writers, including Jorge Luis Borges, Bertolt Brecht, Marcel Proust, Arthur Conan Doyle, Henry James, Cesare Pavese, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, Vladimir Nabokov, J. M. Barrie, and G. K. Chesterton, who said of him that he "seemed to pick the right word up on the point of his pen, like a man playing spillikins."

If a man loves the labour of his trade, apart from any question of success or fame, the gods have called him. success

Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary. politics

Compromise is the best and cheapest lawyer. best & the law

It is better to lose health like a spendthrift than to waste it like a miser. health

An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding. life

Keep your eyes open to your mercies. The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life. life & thankful

You cannot run away from weakness you must some time fight it out or perish and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand? time

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. greatness & travel

Marriage is one long conversation, chequered by disputes. marriage

It is the mark of a good action that it appears inevitable in retrospect. being good

The mark of a good action is that it appears inevitable in retrospect. being good

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. inspirational

Every heart that has beat strongly and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world, and bettered the tradition of mankind. inspirational

We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend. best

Marriage: A friendship recognized by the police. friendship & marriage

Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits. business, being good & life

To be wholly devoted to some intellectual exercise is to have succeeded in life. motivation

Wine is bottled poetry. poetry

The body is a house of many windows: there we all sit, showing ourselves and crying on the passers-by to come and love us. love

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. greatness & travel

When I am grown to man's estate I shall be very proud and great. And tell the other girls and boys Not to meddle with my toys. greatness

In marriage, a man becomes slack and selfish, and undergoes a fatty degeneration of his moral being. marriage

Marriage is like life - it is a field of battle, not a bed of roses. marriage

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. being good

Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a poor substitute for life. being good

You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. love

That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much. success

Well, well, Henry James is pretty good, though he is of the nineteenth century, and that glaringly. being good

It is a golden maxim to cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves. gardening

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive. travel

Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others. courage

I am in the habit of looking not so much to the nature of a gift as to the spirit in which it is offered. nature

There is only one difference between a long life and a good dinner: that, in the dinner, the sweets come last. being good & life

Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things. business

Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone, but primarily by catchwords. being alone

Absences are a good influence in love and keep it bright and delicate. being good & love

The truth that is suppressed by friends is the readiest weapon of the enemy. truth

The price we have to pay for money is sometimes liberty. money

All human beings are commingled out of good and evil. being good

St. Patrick's Day March 17, 2025

There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting. 3 views from John Millington Synge

3 views from John Millington Synge

Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy. 28 sayings from William Butler Yeats

28 sayings from William Butler Yeats

Geographically, Ireland is a medium-sized rural island that is slowly but steadily being consumed by sheep. 27 quotes from Dave Barry

27 quotes from Dave Barry

We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English. 74 quotes from Winston Churchill

74 quotes from Winston Churchill