On Chivalry Robert Louis Stevenson
from the short story, A Lodging in the Night
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 nobel histories, but in every man's heart, if he will take care to read. You speak of 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 one, like a man who should be doctoring a toothache on the Judgement Day. For such things as honour and love and faith are not nobler than food and drink, but indeed I think we desire them more, and suffer more sharply for their absence.
God Speed by Edmund Blair Leighton
(poster from http://www.allposters.com/)
1 comment:
Good quote!! I love Stevenson, and it's been ages since I've read the New Arabian Nights. I want to read it again!
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