Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Kindness is what makes life bearable and meaningful.
In this quote, Robert Louis Stevenson reflects on the importance of kindness in human interactions and how it shapes our perception of the world. He suggests that the history of our small acts of kindness—expressed through words, gestures, and letters—is what gives life its value and prevents it from feeling like a cruel joke. Without these moments of generosity and compassion, life would seem overwhelmingly bleak.
Themes
KindnessLifeHumanityCompassionMeaning
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a motivational speech about compassion and community service.
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
Strange as my circumstances were, the terms of this debate are as old and commonplace as man; much the same inducements and alarms cast the die for any tempted and trembling sinner; and it fell out with me, as it falls with so vast a majority of my fellows, that I chose the better part and was found wanting in the strength to keep to it.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
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