Talk:Robert Louis Stevenson

Latest comment: 10 years ago by Peterklevy in topic Unsourced

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Robert Louis Stevenson page.


Wasn't 'Old Mortality' written by Walter Scott rather than by R. L. Stevenson?

This is correct, first published in 1816; from what information I have been able to find there does seem to have been an edition of this which Stevenson published in 1884 which may have had the line quoted in an introductory note. I must confess that I am have not read any version of the work, but searching the text of the Project Gutenberg edition the quote does not appear to have been a statement by Scott. ~ Kalki 03:52, 31 Jul 2004 (UTC)
'Old Mortality' is the title of an essay by Robert Louis Stevenson about graves and graveyards followed by an elegy for the friend of his youth, James Ferrier. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Richard Dury (talkcontribs) 24 September 2006 at 19:27 (UTC)

Quote question edit

Can anyone attribute the following quote to Robert Louis Stevenson? "It is the mark of a good action that it appears inevitable in retrospect." Thank you for your help

  • I have seen it on two different quote sites, attributed to RLS and stated as "The mark of a good action is that it appears inevitable in retrospect." The sites were www giga-usa.com/quotes/ and www quotationspage.com/ UDScott 16:26, 23 September 2005 (UTC)Reply

Unsourced edit

Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to Robert Louis Stevenson. --Antiquary 18:36, 20 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

  • The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.
  • Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
I didn't read it, but isn't the title itself an authorized source? http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Louis-Stevensons-Admiral-Guinea/dp/1780004850
At archive.org, I searched within Admiral Guinea (actually all three plays) and there is nothing about seeds or harvest. Also, this quote doesn't sound like Stevenson.
  • The duty of a Christian is not to succeed, but to fail cheerfully.
  • A man must not deny his manifest abilities, for that is to evade his obligations.
  • To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying "Amen" to what the world tells you you ought to prefer is to have kept your soul alive.
  • You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?
  • Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.
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