Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.
Interpretation
Focusing solely on one's work can lead to the neglect of important aspects of life.
Robert Louis Stevenson's quote highlights the idea that an intense commitment to one's job or business often comes at the cost of neglecting other vital areas of life, such as relationships, health, and personal growth. It serves as a reminder to strive for balance, as an obsession with work can overshadow the importance of holistic well-being.
In practice
During a keynote speech about work-life balance in the corporate world.
Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Like 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.
Be willing to stop punishing yourself for your mistakes. Love yourself for your willingness to learn and grow.
My whole life, I never spoke a single-word.
It 's wiser being good than bad; It 's safer being meek than fierce; It 's fitter being sane than mad. My own hope is, a sun will pierce The thickest cloud earth ever stretched; That after Last returns the First, Though a wide compass round be fetched.
For us lads of eighteen they ought to have been mediators and guides to the world of maturity, the world of work, of duty, of culture, of progress -- to the future.
We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.
The wise stand out because they see themselves as part of the Whole. They shine because they don't want to impress. They achieve great things because they don't look for recognition. Their wisdom is contained in what they are, not their opinions. They refuse to argue, so no-one argues with them.
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