Robert Louis Stevenson ( 10 of 59 )
It is not for nothing, either, that the umbrella has become the
very foremost badge of modern civilization--the Urim read more
It is not for nothing, either, that the umbrella has become the
very foremost badge of modern civilization--the Urim and Thummim
of respectability. . . . So strongly do we feel on this point,
indeed, that we are almost inclined to consider all who possess
really well-conditioned umbrellas as worthy of the Franchise.
A man met a lad weeping. "What do you weep for?" he asked. "I am weeping for my sins," said read more
A man met a lad weeping. "What do you weep for?" he asked. "I am weeping for my sins," said the lad. "You must have little to do," said the man. The next day, they met again. Once more the lad was weeping. "Why do you weep now?" asked the man. "I am weeping because I have nothing to eat," said the lad. "I thought it would come to that," said the man.
Teacher, tender comrade, wife, A fellow-farer true through life.
Teacher, tender comrade, wife, A fellow-farer true through life.
To be idle requires a strong sense of personal identity.
To be idle requires a strong sense of personal identity.
Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a poor substitute for life.
Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a poor substitute for life.
You cannot run away from weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, read more
You cannot run away from weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?
It is better to lose health like a spendthrift than to waste it like a miser.
It is better to lose health like a spendthrift than to waste it like a miser.
Nothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, yet we make the same impression on Buddhists and vegetarians, for we read more
Nothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, yet we make the same impression on Buddhists and vegetarians, for we feed on babies, though not our own.
It is the habitual carriage of the umbrella that is the stamp of
Respectability. The umbrella has become the read more
It is the habitual carriage of the umbrella that is the stamp of
Respectability. The umbrella has become the acknowledged index
of social position. . . . Crusoe was rather a moralist than a
pietist, and his leaf-umbrella is as fine an example of the
civilized mind striving to express itself under adverse
circumstances as we have ever met with.
Umbrellas, like faces, acquire a certain sympathy with the
individual who carries them. . . . May it not read more
Umbrellas, like faces, acquire a certain sympathy with the
individual who carries them. . . . May it not be said of the
bearers of these inappropriate umbrellas, that they go about the
streets "with a lie in their right hand?" . . . Except in a very
few cases of hypocrisy joined to a powerful intellect, men, not
by nature, umbrellarians, have tried again and again to become so
by art, and yet have failed--have expended their patrimony in the
purchase of umbrella after umbrella, and yet have systematically
lost them, and have finally, with contrite spirits and strunken
purses, given up their vain struggle, and relied on theft and
borrowing for the remainder of their lives.
