60 Adventurous Robert Louis Stevenson Quotes

Last updated on Nov 14th, 2022

60 Adventurous Robert Louis Stevenson Quotes

Robert Louis Stevenson, full name Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson, (born November 13, 1850, Edinburgh, Scotland – died December 3, 1894, Vailima, Samoa) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, and poet, known for fiction and travel books.

Stevenson’s best works include novels such as Treasure Island (1881), Kidnapped (1886), Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), The Master of Ballantrae (1889), and the collection of poems A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885).

Despite being criticized in the first half of the 20th century, today, Stevenson is one of the most translated authors in the world.

1

An aim in life is the only fortune worth the finding.Essays of Travel (1905), Essay I. The Amateur Emigrant, Chapter 4. Steerage Types, Page 31

2

The price we have to pay for money is paid in liberty.Familiar Studies of Men and Books (1882), Chapter 5. Henry David Thoreau: His Character and Opinions (1880), Page 138

3

Every man is his own doctor of divinity in the last ressort.An Inland Voyage (1878), Noyon Cathedral, Page 170

4

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 1. Virginibus Puerisque IV: The Truth of Intercourse (1879), Page 70

5

Our business in this world is not to succeed, but to continue to fail, in good spirits.Letters and Miscellanies of Robert Louis Stevenson (1902), Addenda, Chapter V. Reflections and Remarks on Human Life, Page 629

6

All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil.Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Chapter 10. Henry Jekull's Full Statemnt of the Case, Page 114

7

Things looked at patiently from one side after another generally end by showing a side that is beautiful.Essays of Travel (1905), Essay XIV. On the Enjoyment of Unpleasant Places, Page 221

8

Of what shall a man be proud, if he is not proud of his friends?Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879), Letter to Sidney Colvin, Page 5

9

The world is full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.A Child's Garden of Verses (1885), Poem XXIV. Happy Thought, Page 28

The truth that is suppressed by friends is the readiest weapon of the enemy. - Robert Louis Stevenson (Lay Morals, and Other Papers Quotes)
10

The truth that is suppressed by friends is the readiest weapon of the enemy.Lay Morals, and Other Papers (1911), Father Damien (1890), Page 69

11

The cruellest lies are often told in silence.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 1. Virginibus Puerisque IV: The Truth of Intercourse (1879), Page 81

12

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.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 1. Virginibus Puerisque IV: The Truth of Intercourse (1879), Page 78

13

It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it.Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Chapter 6. Remarkable Incident of Dr. Lanyon, Page 60

14

You start a question, and it’s like starting a stone. You sit quietly on the top of a hill; and away the stone goes, starting others.Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Chapter 1. Story of the Door, Page 10

15

Marriage is one long conversation, chequered by disputes.Memories and Portraits (1887), Chapter XI. Talk and Talkers: Second Paper, Page 189

16

Each has his own tree of ancestors, but at the top of all sits Probably Arboreal.Memories and Portraits (1887), Chapter VI. Pastoral, Page 104

17

We are all travellers in what John Bunyan calls the wilderness of this world, – all, too, travellers with a donkey; and the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend.Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879), Letter to Sidney Colvin, Page 5

18

There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy, we sow anonymous benefits upon the world.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 3. An Apology for Idlers (1877), Page 131

19

Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone, but principally by catchwords.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 1. Virginibus Puerisque, Part II (1881), Page 41

In every part and corner of our life, to lose oneself is to be gainer; to forget oneself is to be happy. - Robert Louis Stevenson (Memories and Portraits Quotes)
20

In every part and corner of our life, to lose oneself is to be gainer; to forget oneself is to be happy.Memories and Portraits (1887), Chapter III. Old Morality, Page 48

21

So long as we love we serve; so long as we are loved by others, I would almost say that we are indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend.Lay Morals, and Other Papers (1911), Lay Morals (1896), Chapter IV, Page 47

22

When the teeth are shut the tongue is at home.Fables (1896), Chapter XVIII. The Touchstone, Page 63

23

Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 3. An Apology for Idlers (1877), Page 118

24

Fiction is to the grown man what play is to the child; it is there that he changes the atmosphere and tenor of his life.Memories and Portraits (1887), Chapter XV. A Gossip on Romance, Page 268

25

The correction of silence is what kills; when you know you have transgressed, and your friend says nothing, and avoids your eye.Memories and Portraits (1887), Chapter XI. Talk and Talkers: Second Paper, Page 184

26

Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 3. An Apology for Idlers (1877), Page 129

27

Restfulness is a quality for cattle; the virtues are all active, life is alert.Memories and Portraits (1887), Chapter XI. Talk and Talkers: Second Paper, Page 169

28

A happy man or woman is a better thing to find than a five-pound note.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 3. An Apology for Idlers (1877), Page 132

29

All speech, written or spoken, is in a dead language until it finds a willing and prepared hearer.Lay Morals, and Other Papers (1911), Lay Morals (1896), Chapter I, Page 3

The most beautiful adventures are not those we go to seek. - Robert Louis Stevenson (An Inland Voyage Quotes)
30

The most beautiful adventures are not those we go to seek.An Inland Voyage (1878), Back to the World, Page 237

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31

It is one of the worst things of sentiment, that the voice grows to be more important than the words, and the speaker than that which is spoken.The Master of Ballantrae (1889), Chapter IV. Persecutions Endured by Mr. Henry, Page 91

32

When we take our advantage unrelentingly, then we make war.The Master of Ballantrae (1889), Chapter IX. Mr. Mackellar's Journey with the Master, Page 168

33

There is no foreign land; it is the traveller only that is foreign, and now and again, by a flash of recollection, lights up the contrasts of the earth.The Silverado Squatters (1883), With the Children of Israel: III. The Return, Page 96

34

Fear is the strong passion; it is with fear that you must trifle, if you wish to taste the intense joys of living.New Arabian Nights (1882), The Suicide Club (1878), Chapter 1. Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts, Page 23

35

In real life, help is given out of friendship, or it is not valued; it is received from the hand of friendship, or it is resented.Across the Plains (1892), Chapter IX. Beggars, Page 269

36

To be feared of a thing and yet to do it, is what makes the prettiest kind of a man.Kidnapped (1886), Chapter XX. The Flight in the Heather: The Heugh of Corryhakiegh, Page 193

37

The man who forgets to be grateful has fallen asleep in life.Letter to Trevor Haddon (La Solitude, Hyères, April 23, 1884), The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson (1911), Vol. II, Page 214

38

It is better to lose health like a spendthrift than to waste it like a miser. It is better to live and be done with it, than to die daily in the sick-room.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 5. Æs Triplex (1878), Page 181

39

To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.An Inland Voyage (1878), The Royal Sport Nautique, Page 25

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive. - Robert Louis Stevenson (Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers Quotes)
40

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 6. El Dorado (1878), Page 190

41

The true wisdom is to be always seasonable, and to change with a good grace in changing circumstances.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 2. Crabbed Age and Youth (1878), Page 108

42

We do not go to cowards for tender dealing; there is nothing so cruel as panic; the man who has least fear for his own carcase, has most time to consider others.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 5. Æs Triplex (1878), Page 178

43

To be overwise is to ossify; and the scruple-monger ends by standing stockstill.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 5. Æs Triplex (1878), Page 179

44

To be truly happy is a question of how we begin and not of how we end, of what we want and not of what we have.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 6. El Dorado (1878), Page 185

45

And if a man reads very hard, as the old anecdote reminds us, he will have little time for thought.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 3. An Apology for Idlers (1877), Page 119

46

In short, the first duty of a man is to speak; that is his chief business in this world; and talk, which is the harmonious speech of two or more, is by far the most accessible of pleasures. It costs nothing in money; it is all profit; it completes our education, founds and fosters our friendships, and can be enjoyed at any age and in almost any state of health.Memories and Portraits (1887), Chapter X. Talk and Talkers: First Paper, Page 146

47

You cannot run away from a weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?Essays of Travel (1905), Essay I. The Amateur Emigrant, Chapter 4. Steerage Types, Page 31

48

It is a golden maxim to cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves.Essays of Travel (1905), Essay VIII. The Ideal House, Page 188

49

It is perhaps a more fortunate destiny to have a taste for collecting shells than to be born a millionaire.Lay Morals, and Other Papers (1911), Lay Morals (1896), Chapter I, Page 45

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. - Robert Louis Stevenson (Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes Quotes)
50

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879), Part II. Upper Gévaudan, Chapter 5. Cheylard and Luc, Page 81

51

Man is not truly one, but truly two.Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Chapter 10. Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case, Page 108

52

A man must not deny his manifest abilities, for that is to evade his obligations.The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables (1887), Story 6. The Treasure of Franchard (1883), Chapter V. Treasure Trove, Page 271

53

Every man has a sane spot somewhere.The Wrecker (1892), Prologue. In the Marquesas, Page 10

54

I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both; and I believe they both get paid in the end; but the fools first.Kidnapped (1886), Chapter XIV. The Islet, Page 134

55

They say cowardice is infectious; but then argument is, on the other hand, a great emboldener.Treasure Island (1883), Part I. The Old Buccaneer, Chapter IV. The Sea Chest, Page 30

56

Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.An Inland Voyage (1878), La Fère of Cursed Memory, Page 151

57

If you want a person’s faults, go to those who love him. They will not tell you, but they know.Familiar Studies of Men and Books (1882), Chapter 5. Henry David Thoreau: His Character and Opinions (1880), Page 159

58

Our affections and beliefs are wiser than we; the best that is in us is better than we can understand; for it is grounded beyond experience, and guides us, blindfold but safe, from one age on to another.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Dedication, Page VI

59

An intelligent person, looking out of his eyes and hearkening in his ears, with a smile on his face all the time, will get more true education than many another in a life of heroic vigils.Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881), Essay 3. An Apology for Idlers (1877), Page 123

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life. - Robert Louis Stevenson (Familiar Studies of Men and Books Quotes)
60

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.Familiar Studies of Men and Books (1882), Chapter 5. Henry David Thoreau: His Character and Opinions (1880), Page 164