“The true wisdom is to be always seasonable, and to change with a good grace in changing circumstances.”

— Robert Louis Stevenson, Crabbed Age and Youth, in Virginibus Puerisque, 1881

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.”

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.”

“All great truths begin as blasphemies.”

“It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.”

“Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor.”

“To achieve perfection, one must first begin by not understanding many things!”

“Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots.”