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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)

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Life

More quotes by Robert Louis Stevenson

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

Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers (1881)

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

Old Mortality (1884)

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

Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers (1881)

Our business in this world is not to succeed, but to continue to fail, in good spirits.

Idleness, which is often becoming and even wise in the bachelor, begins to wear a different aspect when you have a wife to support.

Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers (1881)

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To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

Bertrand Russell Marriage and Morals (1929)

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Reason is Life's sole arbiter, the magic Laby'rinth's single clue:
Worlds lie above, beyond its ken; what crosses it can ne'er be true.

Richard Francis Burton The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Robert Louis Stevenson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.