“Stevenson was a poet who couldn't write poetry, but could and did live it.”

Separating poetic temperament from the formal writing of verse · Gathered Leaves, letters and diaries, 1897–1907

• Art
• Poetry

“It is like a little ray of candle-light by which darkness becomes visible. But the joy of love is sunshine.”

Contrasting the faint light of intellect with the fullness of love · Gathered Leaves, letters and diaries, 1886

• Joy
• Love

“Qualifications absolutely necessary for a good historian: imagination; prejudice; the power of writing your own biography at the same time.”

A mischievous view of history as inseparable from personality and interpretation · Gathered Leaves, letters and diaries, 1897

• Memory
• Truth