Robert Louis Stevenson quotes

“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”

— Spoken by a character · I. The Old Sea-dog at the Admiral Benbow

“Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!” till you wondered that it was not out of breath, or till John threw his handkerchief over the cage.

— Spoken by a character · X. The Voyage

‘Dead men don’t bite,’ says he.

— Israel · XI. What I Heard in the Apple-Barrel

“But what is the black spot, captain?”

— Spoken by a character · III. The Black Spot

We must go on, because we can’t turn back.

— Mr. Smollett · XII. Council of War

“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”

— Spoken by a character · I. The Old Sea-dog at the Admiral Benbow

That’s a summons, mate.

— Spoken by a character · III. The Black Spot

Seaward, ho! Hang the treasure! It’s the glory of the sea that has turned my head.

“Were you addressing me, sir?” says the doctor; and when the ruffian had told him, with another oath, that this was so, “I have only one thing to say to you, sir,” replies the doctor, “that if you keep on drinking rum, the world will soon be quit of a very dirty scoundrel!”

— Spoken by a character · I. The Old Sea-dog at the Admiral Benbow

Well, many’s the long night I’ve dreamed of cheese--toasted, mostly--and woke up again, and here I were.

— Spoken by a character · XV. The Man of the Island

I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both; and I believe they both get paid in the end; but the fools first.

“am I no a bonny fighter?”

— Spoken by a character · X. THE SIEGE OF THE ROUND-HOUSE

There are two things that men should never weary of, goodness and humility; we get none too much of them in this rough world among cold, proud people; but Mr. Henderland had their very speech upon his tongue.

To be feared of a thing and yet to do it, is what makes the prettiest kind of a man.

— Alan · XX. THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE ROCKS

“Not yet,” says he; “but I’ve a grand memory for forgetting, David.”

— Spoken by a character · XVIII. I TALK WITH ALAN IN THE WOOD OF LETTERMORE

I would have given the world to take back what I had said; but a word once spoken, who can recapture it?

No class of man is altogether bad, but each has its own faults and virtues; and these shipmates of mine were no exception to the rule.

There’s bad folk everywhere, and what’s far worse, weak ones.

— Spoken by a character · XXI. THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE HEUGH OF CORRYNAKIEGH

And life is all a variorum, at the best.

— Spoken by a character · VII. I GO TO SEA IN THE BRIG COVENANT OF DYSART

“O, man, if you would only take one point of the compass and let me take any other, it would be the best for both of us.”

— Spoken by a character · XXII. THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE MOOR