The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 04Stevenson, Robert Louis
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The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 04
Stevenson, Robert Louis
English literature -- 19th century; Short stories
"There is something more than I can understand in this," he said at
length. "Your mouth is full of subtleties, and the devil has led you
very far astray; but the devil is only a very weak spirit before God's
truth, and all his subtleties vanish at a word of true honour, like
darkness at morning. Listen to me once more. I learned long ago that a
gentleman should live chivalrously and lovingly to God, and the king,
and his lady; and though I have seen many strange things done, I have
still striven to command my ways upon that rule. It is not only written
in all noble histories, but in every man's heart, if he will take care
to read. You speak of food and wine, and I know very well that hunger is
a difficult trial to endure; but you do not speak of other wants; you
say nothing of honour, of faith to God and other men, of courtesy, of
love without reproach. It may be that I am not very wise--and yet I
think I am--but you seem to me like one who has lost his way and made a
great error in life. You are attending to the little wants, and you have
totally forgotten the great and only real ones, like a man who should be
doctoring a toothache on the Judgment Day. For such things as honour and
love and faith are not only nobler than food and drink, but indeed I
think that we desire them more, and suffer more sharply for their
absence. I speak to you as I think you will most easily understand me.
Are you not, while careful to fill your belly, disregarding another
appetite in your heart, which spoils the pleasure of your life and keeps
you continually wretched?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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