Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Politics often does not require formal training or preparation for individuals to participate, which can lead to unqualified leaders.
In this quote, Robert Louis Stevenson critiques the political profession, suggesting that individuals can enter politics without any formal education or preparation. This lack of prerequisite knowledge or training may result in a governance system populated by those who are ill-equipped to lead, emphasizing the importance of competence and preparedness in leadership roles.
Themes
PoliticsPreparationLeadershipCompetenceGovernance
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on the importance of training for leaders, one could reference Stevenson's quote.
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
Similar quotes
'Get along, go along' is not an inspirational philosophy, and only God knows how much moral cowardice it has covered up over the years. Serve your time, collect your chits, and cash 'em in for your home state? No, I'd say we could ask for more than that from our senators.
Molly IvinsRead
In the old days people never bothered about what others did, so long as they were free to do what they liked themselves. Today, one cannot sneeze without being corrected, let alone enjoy oneself. That's what politics have done to our society
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Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets.
Abraham LincolnRead
There are no gods here, no ghosts and spirits in America, there are no angels in America, no spiritual past, no racial past, there's only the political, and the decoys and the ploys to maneuver around the inescapable battle of politics.
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Government is the assumption of authority over a given area and all within it, exercised generally for the double purpose of more complete oppression of its subjects and extension of its boundaries.
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Democracy is not a spectator sport. It is a difficult, hard, full-contact, participatory endeavor.
Cory BookerRead