Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
This profusion of eccentricities, this dream in masonry and living rock is not a drop scene in a theatre, but a city in the world of reality.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that the unique and imaginative aspects of a city are real and not simply theatrical illusions.
In this quote, Robert Louis Stevenson highlights the distinctive and vivid characteristics of a city, suggesting that its creativity and eccentricities are a genuine part of the real world rather than mere pretensions or false representations. He encourages us to appreciate the authenticity and richness of urban life, recognizing it as a true manifestation of human artistry and expression.
In practice
In a speech about urban development, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of creativity in city planning.
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.
Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater.
I think the fact that I grew up in show business had a real effect on my personality. If you were born in New York during the golden age of television, and you grew up on Broadway, that marks you.
I often make films about subjects I don't really know much about. Maybe it's laziness, but I don't go in there having done a tonne of research; the research happens while I'm making the film.
As a man I am flawed, but my music is perfect.
Grain is life, there's all this striving for perfection with digital stuff. Striving is fine, but getting there is not great. I want a sense of the human and that is what breathes life into a picture. For me, imperfection is perfection.
Actors can have a fair amount of hate for each other, so when another actor says, 'You did your thing,' or 'That was inspiring,' you can't really ask for more than that.
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