Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
A man finds he has been wrong at every stage of his career, only to deduce the astonishing conclusion that he is at last entirely right.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People often realize their mistakes throughout their journey, leading to a clearer understanding of their true path in the end.
This quote by Robert Louis Stevenson suggests that the process of self-discovery and professional growth is filled with errors and misconceptions. However, through these experiences, a person can ultimately arrive at a profound realization that guides them to a satisfying conclusion about their choices and beliefs, affirming that every mistake was a step toward the right understanding of their life and career.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about career paths, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of learning from mistakes.
More from Robert Louis Stevenson
All quotes βLike a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.
That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much.
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.
The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions.
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.
Similar quotes
Like other men, I have sought honours and preferment, and often have obtained them beyond my wishes or hopes. Yet never have I found in them that content which I had figured beforehand in my mind. A strong reason, if we well consider it, why we should disencumber ourselves of vain desires.
There is no creation without faith and hope. There is no faith and hope that does not express itself in creation.
In the end, I am quite normal. I don't have odd habits. I don't dramatize. Above all, I do not romanticize the act of writing. I don't talk about the anguish I suffer in creating. I do not have a fear of the blank page, writer's block, all those things that we hear about writers.
The temperament that produces a talent for little things is the opposite of that required for great ones.
Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.
Power is not happiness. Security and peace are more to be desired than a name at which nations tremble.