Quotes from Robert Louis Stevenson

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

All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer.

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

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

Our business in this world is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.

There is no duty we so much underrated as the duty of being happy.

Thereís no music like a little riverís ... It takes the mind out of doors ... and... sir, it quiets a man down like saying his prayers.

Go, little book, and wish to all Flowers in the garden, meat in the hall, A bin of wine, a spice of wit, A house with lawns enclosing it, A living river by the door, A nightingale in the sycamore

A bottle of good wine, like a good act, shines ever in the retrospect

An aspiration is a joy for ever, a possession as solid as a landed estate

The existence of a man is so small a thing to take, so mighty a thing to employ.

When it comes to my own turn to lay my weapons down, I shall do so with thankfulness and fatigue, and whatever be my destiny afterward, I shall be glad to lie down with my fathers in honor. It is human at least, if not divine.

Nothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, yet we make the same impression on Buddhists and vegetarians, for we feed on babies, though not our own.

Most of our pocket wisdom is conceived for the use of mediocre people, to discourage them from ambitious attempts, and generally console them in their mediocrity.

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

It is the mark of a modest man to accept his friendly circle ready-made from the hands of opportunity.

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

Vanity dies hard; in some obstinate cases it outlives the man.

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

Each has his own tree of ancestors, but at the top of all sits Probably Arboreal.

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

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

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

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