Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
It is the mark of a good action that it appears inevitable in retrospect.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that great actions often seem clearly right after they have been accomplished.
Robert Louis Stevenson points out that when we look back at significant actions or decisions, they often appear obvious or inevitable. This reflects a human tendency to simplify complex events in hindsight, highlighting the clarity that often comes only after the outcome is known. It underscores the importance of bold actions, even when the path may seem uncertain at the time.
Themes
ActionInevitabilityHindsightDecisionsClarity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a motivational speech about taking risks in business.
More from Robert Louis Stevenson
All quotes βLike 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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