𝓔𝓶𝓲𝓵𝔂 💎 > 𝓔𝓶𝓲𝓵𝔂 💎's Quotes

“I Keep Six Honest Serving Men ..."

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.

But different folk have different views;
I know a person small—
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!

She sends'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes—
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant's Child

“He travels the fastest who travels alone.”
― Rudyard Kipling

“How can you do anything until you have seen everything,or as much as you can?”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Light That Failed

“Yet there be certain times in a young man’s life, when, through great sorrow or sin, all the boy in him is burnt and seared away so that he passes at one step to the more sorrowful state of manhood”
― Rudyard Kipling

“My heart is heavy with the things I do not understand.”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book

“These are the four that are never content: that have never been filled since the dew began-
Jacala's mouth, and the glut of the kite, and the hands of the ape, and the eyes of Man.”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Books

“There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and woman to fill our day;
But when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers & Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.”
― Rudyard Kipling

“Of course the Man was wild too. He was dreadfully wild. He didn't even begin to be tame till he met the Woman, and she told him that she did not like living in his wild ways. She picked out a nice dry Cave, instead of a heap of wet leaves, to lie down in; and she strewed clean sand on the floor; and she lit a nice fire of wood at the back of the Cave; and she hung a dried wild-horse skin, tail down, across the opening of the Cave; and she said, 'Wipe your feet, dear, when you come in, and now we'll keep house.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories

“There is but one task for all --
One life for each to give.
What stands if Freedom fall?"

[For All We Have and Are]”
― Rudyard Kipling, Complete Verse

“I have struck a city - a real city - and they call it Chicago. The other places don’t count. Having seen it, I urgently desire never to see it again. It is inhabited by savages”
― Rudyard Kipling

“A DEAD STATESMAN
I could not dig: I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?
from EPITAPHS OF THE WAR 1914-18”
― Rudyard Kipling

“I had never seen the jungle. They fed me behind bars from an iron pan till one night I felt that I was Bagheera - the Panther - and no man's plaything, and I broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw and came away; and because I had learned the ways of men, I became more terrible in the jungle than Shere Khan.”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Books

“Everyone is more or less mad on one point.”
― Rudyard Kipling

“God help us for we knew the worst too young.”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Light That Failed

“Now India is a place beyond all others where one must not take things too seriously—the midday sun always excepted.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills

“They are fools who kiss and tell'--
Wisely has the poet sung.
Man may hold all sorts of posts
If he'll only hold his tongue.”
― Rudyard Kipling

“There's no jealousy in the grave.”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Books

“The air was full of all the night noises that, taken together, make one big silence...”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book

“Fiction is Truth's elder sister. Obviously. No one in the world knew what truth was till some one had told a story.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Writings on Writing

“Follow the dream, and always the dream, and only the dream.”
― Rudyard Kipling

“Many wear the robes, but few walk the Way.”
― Rudyard Kipling

“More men are killed by overwork than the importance of the world justifies.”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Ghost Stories

“The Power of the Dog
by Rudyard Kipling


There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But ... you've given your heart to a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!).
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long--
So why in--Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?”
― Rudyard Kipling, Collected Dog Stories

“One can’t prescribe books, even the best books, to people unless one knows a good deal about each individual person.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Book of Words: Selections From Speeches and Addresses Delivered Between 1906 and 1927

“It does not matter what people think of a man after his death.”
― Joseph Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous

“Holden went to his bungalow and began to understand that he was not alone in the world, and also that he was afraid for the sake of another, -- which is the most soul-satisfying fear known to man.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Selected Stories

“Let them fall Mowgli, they are only tears.”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Books

“madness is the most disgraceful thing that can overtake a wild creature.”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book

“If you don't get what you want, it's a sign either that you did not seriously want it, or that you tried to bargain over the price.”
― Rudyard Kipling

“Gardens are not made by singing 'Oh, how beautiful!' and sitting in the shade.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Complete Verse