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

— Robert Louis Stevenson, Familiar Studies of Men and Books, 1882

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.”

“In every part and corner of our life, to lose oneself is to be a gainer; to forget oneself is to be happy.”

“The wise man will live as long as he ought, not as long as he can.”

“In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.”

“The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life.”

“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”

“Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage.”