Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to 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."

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. great

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

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

Wine is bottled poetry. poetry

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

Marriage is one long conversation, chequered by disputes. marriage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Compromise is the best and cheapest lawyer. best & legal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanksgiving November 28, 2024

The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest. 32 wisdom & wit from William Blake

32 wisdom & wit from William Blake

Drink and be thankful to the host! What seems insignificant when you have it, is important when you need it. 6 wisdom & wit from Franz Grillparzer

6 wisdom & wit from Franz Grillparzer

For what I have received may the Lord make me truly thankful. And more truly for what I have not received. 2 quotes from Storm Jameson

2 quotes from Storm Jameson

To give thanks in solitude is enough. Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do. 73 more quotes from Victor Hugo

73 more quotes from Victor Hugo