Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
To be idle requires a strong sense of personal identity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being idle is not simply doing nothing; it requires a clear understanding of oneself and one's values.
This quote by Robert Louis Stevenson suggests that to be truly idle, or to find contentment in doing nothing, one must possess a strong sense of personal identity. This identity helps individuals to not be swayed by societal expectations or pressures to be constantly productive, instead allowing them to embrace moments of inactivity with confidence in who they are.
Themes
IdentityIdlenessSelf-AwarenessContentmentReflection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a seminar on self-discovery and the importance of finding peace in stillness.
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
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.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
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Power to translate is the test of having really understood one's own meaning.
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