A winding footpath through green highlands towards a sunlit lake and distant hills.

Original artwork, not a still

El Dorado

Robert Louis Stevenson

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The promise of a destination can matter as much as reaching it. That final turn towards labour keeps the thought from becoming a daydream: hope still asks you to put in the work.

Sources (1)
  • El Dorado — read the essayEl Dorado, final paragraph; transcription of the 1897 Chatto & Windus editionReference checked

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