Robert Louis Stevenson

“One generation after another falls like honeybees upon this memorable forest, rifle its sweets, pack themselves with vital memories, and when the theft is consummated depart again into life richer, but poorer also. The forest, indeed, they have possessed, from that day forward it is theirs dissolubly, and they will never return to walk in it at night in the fondest of their dreams, and use it forever in their books and pictures.”

“And 'Oh man!' quo he, 'am I no a bonny fighter?”

“A birdie with a yellow billHoped upon the window sill,Cocked his shining eye and said:'Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-'ead?”

“The rain is falling all around,It falls on field and tree,It rains on the umbrellas here,And on the ships at sea.”

“I was the giant great and stillThat sits upon the pillow-hill,And sees before him, dale and plain,The pleasant land of counterpane.”

“Death, like a host, comes smiling to the door;Smiling, he greets us, on that tranquil shoreWhere neither piping bird nor peeping dawnDisturbs the eternal sleep,But in the stillness far withdrawnOur dreamless rest for evermore we keep.”

“Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea,There I'll establish a city for me.”

“The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God 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 of life.”

“Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.”

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

“I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.”

“All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer. ”

“It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.”

“Alan," cried I, "what makes ye so good to me? What makes ye care for such a thankless fellow?"Deed, and I don't, know" said Alan. "For just precisely what I thought I liked about ye, was that ye never quarrelled:—and now I like ye better!”

“The cruelest lies are often told in silence.”

“And the true realism, always and everywhere, is that of the poets: to find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing. For to miss the joy is to miss all.”

“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.”

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

“But of works of art little can be said.”

“This grove, that was now so peaceful, must then have rung with cries, I thought; and even with the thought I could believe I heard it ringing still.”

“Many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese--toasted mostly.”

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.”

“So long as we love we serve; so long as we are loved by others, I would almost say that we are indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend.”

“A friend is a gift you give yourself.”

“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world.”

“You think those dogs will not be in heaven! I tell you they will be there long before any of us.”

“We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.”

“Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”