...and how he tried to write in his early years is shown by his own words written about his boyhood: ' "I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in." Stevenson prepared for the bar, but after a brief practice gave it up for literary work, and won fame...

...Robert Louis Stevenson. " All through my boyhood and youth," he tells us in Memories and Portraits, " I was known and pointed out for the pattern of an...on my own private end, which was to learn to write. . . . Whenever I read a book or a passage that particularly pleased me, in which a thing was said or...

...thing is possible) the way in which he got his style. "All through my boyhood and youth," says he, "I was known and pointed out for the pattern of an...my own private end, which was to learn to write." He traces with gusto, and doubtless with as much accuracy as can be expected in a map drawn from memory,...

...confidence, " I was known and pointed out as the pattern of an idler; and yet I was always busy with my own private end, which was to learn to write. I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, and the other to write in. As I walked, my mind was busy fitting what I saw with appropriate words...

...become a writer and constantly practiced his art. " All through my boyhood and youth," he has told us, " I was known and pointed out for the pattern of an idler ; and yet I was always busy in my own private end, which was to learn to write. I always kept two books in my pocket, one to read...

...invented dialogues, playing all the parts and later writing them down. He eavesdropped, too, and said, "I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in ... and often exercised myself in writing down conversations from memory." Reading widely in several...

...deep-thinking writer who took pains over his craft - as a youth, in his own words, 'I was always busy to my own private end, which was to learn to write. I...books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in'.' He brought his considerable skill as well as intellect to bear on the tale, which was therefore far...

...alone, ill-health contributing much to his shyness. Writing himself of his college days, he says : " All through my boyhood and youth I was known and pointed...my own private end, which was to learn to write." His constant companions were a printed book and a blank book for his own scribbling. " As I walked,"...

...most emphatic of witnesses to the value of imitation in literary development. He says: Through all my boyhood and youth I was known and pointed out for...on my own private end, which was to learn to write. Whenever I read a book or a passage that particularly pleased me, in which a thing was said or an effect...

...classic quotation on the subject. It has been repeated endlessly, and now must be copied once more : All through my boyhood and youth, I was known and...pattern of an idler ; and yet I was always busy on my private end, which was to learn to write. I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to...