Robert Louis Stevenson

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.

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

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

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.

That man is successful who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of the read more

That man is successful who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of the intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had.

Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that read more

Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth, and our friendly helpers in this foreign isle [Samoa]... Give us courage, gaiety, and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors. If it may not be, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving to one another.