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Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson Quotes

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Famous Robert Louis Stevenson Quotes

“Respectability is a very good thing in its way, but it does not rise superior to all considerations. I would not for a moment venture to hint that it was a matter of taste; but I think I will go as far as this: that if a position is admittedly unkind, uncomfortable, unnecessary, and superfluously useless, although it were as respectableasthe Church of England, the sooner a man is out of it, the better for himself, and all concerned.”

IfsThinkingMenWayDoeMatterMomentsChurchPositionTasteConcernedEnglandGood ThingsVery GoodSuperiorsUselessUncomfortableConsiderationUnnecessaryVentureHintsUnkindRespectabilityChurch Of England
Author:Robert Louis Stevenson
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“When we have discovered a continent, or crossed a chain of mountains, it is only to find another ocean or another plain upon the further side. . . . O toiling hands of mortals! O wearied feet, travelling ye know not whither! Soon, soon, it seems to you, you must come forth on some conspicuous hilltop, and but a little way further, against the setting sun, descry the spires of El Dorado. Little do ye know your own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour.”

KnowsWayLittlesHandsSeemsSidesSunFeetMountainTravelOceanSettingSettingsChainsMortalsHopefullyLabourContinentsBlessednessTrue SuccessToilingSpires
Author:Robert Louis Stevenson
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“Now, to be properly enjoyed, a walking tour should be gone upon alone.... Freedom is of the essence, because you should be able to stop and go on and follow this way or that as the freak takes you.... There should be no cackle of voices at your elbow to jar on the meditative silence of the morning.”

WayShouldAbleVoiceSilenceMorningGoneGoes OnWalkingEssenceEnjoyedFreakJarsElbows
Book:Memories, Portraits, Essays and Records (Annotated Edition)
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“You can forgive people who do not follow you through a philosophical disquisition; but to find your wife laughing when you had tears in your eyes, or staring when you were in a fit of laughter, would go some way towards a dissolution of the marriage.”

PeopleWayEyeMarriageLaughingWifeTearsFitLaughterPhilosophicalForgivingStaringDissolutionTears In Your Eyes
Book:Memories, Portraits, Essays and Records (Annotated Edition)
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“He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point. He’s an extraordinary-looking man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way. No sir; I can make no hand of it; I can’t describe him. And it’s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him this moment.”

KnowsMenWayWantGivingI CanMomentsFeelingsHandsNamesStrongEasyMemoriesSawsExtraordinaryAppearanceScarceStrong FeelingDeformityJekyll
Book:Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
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“I had learned to dwell with pleasure as a beloved daydream on the thought of the separation of these elements. If each I told myself could be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil.”

IfsWayHandsMightWould BeEvilFoundWalksPleasurePathIdentityElementsGood ThingsSeparationBelovedAspirationExposedTwinsUnjustRemorseUnbearableDisgraceDaydreamingRelievedPenitence
Book:The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, second edition
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“In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light. In summer quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day. I have to go to bed and see The birds still hopping on the tree, Or hear the grown-up people's feet Still going past me in the street. And does it not seem hard to you, When all the sky is clear and blue, And I should like so much to play, To have to go to bed by day?”

PeopleWayShouldDoeStillsHardPlayLightSeemsPastNightClearTreeFeetSkyStreetsBedSummerSpringBirdDressesBlueWinterGet UpYellowCandleJuneJulyHoppingCandle Lights
Author:Robert Louis Stevenson
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“All error, not merely verbal, is a strong way of stating that the current truth is incomplete.”

WayStrongMistakeTruth IsErrorsCurrentsIncomplete
Book:The Complete Works of Robert Louis Stevenson: Novels, Short Stories, Poems, Plays, Memoirs, Travel Sketches, Letters and Essays (Illustrated Edition): The Entire Opus of Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer, containing Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped, Catriona and A Child's Garden of Verses
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“Doubtless the world is quite right in a million ways; but you have to be kicked about a little to convince you of the fact.”

WorldWayLittlesFactsMillionsExperienceConvince
Book:The Complete Works of Robert Louis Stevenson: Novels, Short Stories, Poems, Plays, Memoirs, Travel Sketches, Letters and Essays (Illustrated Edition): The Entire Opus of Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer, containing Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped, Catriona and A Child's Garden of Verses
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