We introduce a large class of nonautonomous linear differential equations v =A(t)v in Hilbert spaces, for which the asymptotic stability of the zero solution, with all Lyapunov exponents of the linear equation negative, persists in v =A(t)v +f (t, v) under sufficiently small perturbations f. This class of equations, which we call Lyapunov regular, is introduced here inspired in the classical regularity theory of Lyapunov developed for finite-dimensional spaces, that is nowadays apparently overlooked in the theory of differential equations. Our study is based on a detailed analysis of the Lyapunov exponents. Essentially, the equation v = A(t)v is Lyapunov regular if for every k the limit of (t) 1/t as t → ∞ exists, where (t) is any k-volume defined by solutions v 1 (t), . . . , v k (t). We note that the class of Lyapunov regular linear equations is much larger than the class of uniformly asymptotically stable equations.