“Gentleness and cheerfulness, these come before all morality; they are the perfect duties.”

— Robert Louis Stevenson, A Christmas Sermon, Ch. XII, in Across the Plains, 1892

About Robert Louis Stevenson

1850 – 1894

Scottish novelist and essayist, author of "Treasure Island" and "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde".

“To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour.”

“Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life.”

“To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”