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There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.
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“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

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Source
An Apology for Idlers
Date
1877
Meaning

Meaning of “There is no duty we so much underrate…”

Stevenson argues that a person’s happiness can benefit others socially, so cheerfulness is not merely private pleasure in the essay’s deliberately provocative moral accounting.

Source context

Where does it come from?

‘An Apology for Idlers,’ represented in Project Gutenberg #69825, a 1905 Thomas B. Mosher reprint of the essay first published in the Cornhill Magazine in July 1877. ‘There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy’ appears in Stevenson's argument that cheerfulness can confer anonymous benefits on others. It remains provocative conduct-of-life essay rhetoric rather than clinical mental-health guidance or a universally binding moral duty.

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HappinessHope Quotes About Possibility in Uncertain TimesInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityJoyLifeMeaning of Life Quotes About What Makes Life MatterMotivation For LifeOptimism Quotes About Constructive ExpectationPositive Quotes About a Constructive OutlookPurpose Quotes About Direction, Duty & Meaningful WorkShort
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the true joy of existence comes from living to one's highest.
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“the true joy of existence comes from living to one's highest.”

Ralph Waldo Trine · What All The World's A-Seeking · 1896
Meaning & context

The sentence locates fulfillment in trying to live at one’s best level of character and capacity, making aspiration itself part of the purpose of life.

Source details

What All The World’s A-Seeking, Part III, “The Unfoldment,” printed page 75 in the represented 1896 page-text witness, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #14312. Trine says “the true joy of existence comes from living to one’s highest” immediately after urging the reader to “live to your highest.” It remains historical New Thought / conduct-of-life counsel rather than a claim that striving automatically removes hardship or produces happiness in every circumstance.

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Life is a boundless privilege.
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“Life is a boundless privilege.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · The Conduct of Life · 1860
Meaning & context

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Source details

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Something had come to replace his hoard which gave a growing purpose to the earnings, drawing his hope and joy continually onward beyond the money.
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“Something had come to replace his hoard which gave a growing purpose to the earnings, drawing his hope and joy continually onward beyond the money.”

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Voice: Narrator voice · Narrator
Meaning & context

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Source details

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I live in the hope of meeting with him
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Meaning & context

The speaker continues to wait in hope despite an unfulfilled meeting, making expectation itself part of the devotional life rather than proof that fulfillment has already arrived.

Source details

Gitanjali, poem 13; Project Gutenberg #7164. The “him” is the poem’s spiritual addressee, so the record preserves devotional context instead of converting the sentence into a secular promise.

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God's in his heaven—All's right with the world!
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“God's in his heaven—All's right with the world!”

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Meaning & context

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Source details

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