Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
I sat in the sun on a bench; the animal within me licking the chops of memory; the spiritual side a little drowsed, promising subsequent penitence, but not yet moved to begin.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the tension between our instinctual desires and our spiritual obligations.
In this quote, Robert Louis Stevenson captures the human experience of sitting in a moment of leisure while grappling with the conflicting aspects of our nature: the instinctual, animalistic side that revels in sensory pleasures and memories, and the more contemplative, spiritual side that recognizes the need for responsibility and reflection. This duality highlights the struggle many face between giving in to immediate gratification and striving for higher moral or spiritual aspirations.
Themes
MemorySpiritualityNatureReflectionConflict
In practice
Example use cases
In a meditation group discussing the balance of indulgence and discipline.
More from Robert Louis Stevenson
All quotes →Like 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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