Rudyard kipling quotes

He became an officer and a gentleman, which is an enviable thing.

I worked like a horse and I ate like a hog and I slept like a dead man.

I have struck a city - a real city - and they call it Chicago... I urgently desire never to see it again. It is inhabited by savages.

We're all islands shouting lies to each other across seas of misunderstanding.

There are gems of wondrous brightness Ofttimes lying at our feet, And we pass them, walking thoughtless, Down the busy, crowded street. If we knew, our pace would slacken, We would step more oft with care, Lest our careless feet be treading To the earth some jewel rare.

One cannot resist the lure of Africa.

If you can walk with the crowd and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a man my son!

Let each man be judged by his deeds, I have paid my price to live with myself on the terms that I willed.

Not getting what you want either means you don't want it enough, or you have been dealing too long with the price you have to pay.

Borrow trouble for yourself, if that's your nature, but don't lend it to your neighbours.

Asia is not going to be civilized after the methods of the West. There is too much Asia and she is too old.

If you do not get what you want, it is a sure sign that you did not seriously want it.

Keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you.

The glory of the garden lies in more than meets the eye.

He who faces no calamity gains no courage.

One learns more from a good scholar in a rage than from a score of lucid and laborious drudges.

It was the forty-fathom slumber that clears the soul and eye and heart, and sends you to breakfast ravening. They emptied a big tin dish of juicy fragments of fish- the blood-ends the cook had collected overnight. They cleaned up the plates and pans of the elder mess, who were out fishing, sliced pork for the midday meal, swabbed down the foc'sle, filled the lamps, drew coal and water for the cook, an investigated the fore-hold, where the boat's stores were stacked. It was another perfect day - soft, mild and clear; and Harvey breathed to the very bottom of his lungs.

There's no jealousy in the grave.

All the money in the world is no use to a man or his country if he spends it as fast as he makes it. All he has left is his bills and the reputation for being a fool.

Never praise a sister to a sister, in the hope of your compliments reaching the proper ears, and so preparing the way for you later on. Sisters are women first, and sisters afterwards; and you will find that you do yourself harm.

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master.

San Francisco is a mad city - inhabited for the most part by perfectly insane people whose women are of a remarkable beauty.

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same.

Politicians. Little Tin Gods on Wheels.

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

Tis beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just IT. Some women will stay in a man's memory if they once walked down a street.

Too much work and too much energy kill a man just as effectively as too much assorted vice or too much drink.

I am by nature a dealer in words, and words are the most powerful drug known to humanity.

Now India is a place beyond all others where one must not take things too seriously—the midday sun always excepted.

A brave heart and a courteous tongue. They shall carry thee far through the jungle, Manling.

For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

We are the opening verse of the opening page of the chapter of endless possibilities.

He who can reach a child's heart can reach the worlds heart.

Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears.

The cat will keep his side of the bargain. He will kill mice, and he will be kind to babies when he is in the house, just so long as they do not pull his tail too hard. But when he has done that, and between times, and when the moon gets up and night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up on the Wet Wild trees or on the Wet Wild roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone.

The world is very lovely, and it's very horrible--and it doesn't care about your life or mine or anything else.

All good people agree, And all good people say, All nice people, like Us, are We And every one else is They: But if you cross over the sea, Instead of over the way, You may end by (think of it!) looking on We As only a sort of They!

This is a brief life, but in its brevity it offers us some splendid moments, some meaningful adventures.

If you can wait, and not be tired by waiting ... if you can dream, and not make dreams your master; if you can think, and not make thoughts your aim; if you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same; ... yours is the earth and everything that's in it...

Gardens are not made by singing 'Oh, how beautiful,' and sitting in the shade.

A Time For Prayer "In times of war and not before, God and the soldier we adore. But in times of peace and all things righted, God is forgotten and the soldier slighted." -Rudyard Kipling

God gives all men all earth to love, but since man's heart is small, ordains for each one spot shall prove belov?d over all.

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

No printed word, nor spoken plea can teach young minds what they should be. Not all the books on all the shelves - but what the teachers are themselves.

If you can keep your wits about you while all others are losing theirs, and blaming you. The world will be yours and everything in it, what's more, you'll be a man, my son.

There's a Legion that never was 'listed, That carries no colours or crest, But, split in a thousand detachments, Is breaking the road for the rest.

Take everything you like seriously, except yourselves.

There is no sin so great as ignorance. Remember this.

We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.

You must learn to forgive a man when he's in love. He's always a nuisance.

Literature is a splendid mistress, but a bad wife.

Follow the dream, and always the dream, and only the dream.

Yes, making mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep... For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that an' Chuck him out, the brute! But it's Saviour of his country, when the guns begins to shoot!

Each dog barks in his own yard!

O it's Tommy this, and Tommy that, and Tommy 'ow's your soul/But it's thin red line of heroes when the drums begin to roll.

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier.

Cat said, 'I am not a friend, and I am not a Servant. I am the Cat who walks by himself, and I wish to come into your Cave.'

And the end of the fight is tombstone white with the name of the late deceased, and the epitaph drear, "A Fool lies here who tried to hustle the East."

Now, don't be angry after you've been afraid. That's the worst kind of cowardice.

He travels the fastest who travels alone.

He wrapped himself in quotations - as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.

The American has no language, he has a dialect, slang, provincialism, accent and so forth

Ah! What avails the classic bent And what the cultured word, Against the undoctored incident That actually occurred? And what is Art whereto we press Through paint and prose and rhyme- When Nature in her nakedness Defeats us every time?

All the people like us are we, and everyone else is They.

An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.

Oh East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.

If you can meet success and failure and treat them both as impostors, then you are a balanced man, my son.

The silliest woman can manage a clever man; but it needs a very clever woman to manage a fool.

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too;!

For it's "guns this" and "guns that," and "chuck 'em out, the brutes," But they're the "Savior of our loved ones" when the thugs begin to loot.

The Navy is very old and very wise.

Believe the best of everybody.

It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation, To puff and look important and to say:- 'Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you, We will therefore pay you cash to go away.'

When the Man waked up he said, 'What is Wild Dog doing here?' And the Woman said, 'His name is not Wild Dog any more, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always.'

What is the Law of the Jungle? Strike first and then give tongue.

Payday came and with it beer

What stands if freedom fall?

At two o'clock in the morning, if you open your window and listen, You will hear the feet of the Wind that is going to call the sun. And the trees in the Shadow rustle and the trees in the moonlight glisten, And though it is deep, dark night, you feel that the night is done.

Let it be clearly understood that the Russian is a delightful person till he tucks in his shirt. As an Oriental he is charming. It is only when he insists on being treated as the most easterly of western peoples instead of the most westerly of easterns that he becomes a racial anomaly extremely difficult to handle.

We're poor little lambs who've lost our way, Baa! Baa! Baa! We're little black sheep who've gone astray, Baa-aa-aa! Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree, Damned from here to Eternity, God ha' mercy on such as we, Baa! Yah! Bah!

A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.

Now this is the Law of the Jungle -- as old and as true as the sky; And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back -- For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble.

Nations have passed away and left no traces, And history gives the naked cause of it - One single simple reason in all cases; They fell because their peoples were not fit.

I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers.

Savings represent much more than mere money value. They are the proof that the saver is worth something in himself. Any fool can waste; any fool can muddle; but it takes something more of a man to save and the more he saves the more of a man he makes of himself. Waste and extravagance unsettle a man's mind for every crisis; thrift, which means some form of self-restraint, steadies it.

All we have of freedom All we use or know This our fathers bought for us Long and long ago

Funny how the new things are the old things.

All things considered, there are only two kinds of men in the world: those that stay at home and those that do not.

San Francisco has only one drawback—‘tis hard to leave.

There is no sin greater than ignorance.

I never made a mistake in my life; at least, never one that I couldn't explain away afterwards.

Till the master of all good workmen shall set us to work anew.

The jungle speaks to me because I know how to listen.

Cities and Thrones and Powers Stand in Time's eye, Almost as long as flowers, Which daily die

Be slow to judge for we know little of what has been done and nothing of what has been resisted.

God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.

If you give someone more than they can do, they will do it. If you give them only what they can do, they will do nothing.

In the jungle, life and food depend on keeping your temper.

Never look backwards or you'll fall down the stairs.

For the female of the species is more deadly than the male. A woman's guess is much more accurate than a man's certainty. Take my word for it, the silliest woman can manage a clever man; But it takes a very clever woman to manage a fool. I never made a mistake in my life; At least, never one that I couldn't explain away afterwards

If you want something and don't get it, there are only two reasons. You either really didn't want it, or you tried to bargain over the price.

All sensible men are of the same religion, but no sensible man ever tells.

Delight in the little things.

Beware of overconcern for money, or position, or glory. Someday you will meet a man who cares for none of these things. Then you will know how poor you are.

Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees, So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray For the Glory of the Garden, that it may not pass away!

Also, we will make promise. So long as The Blood endures, I shall know that your good is mine: ye shall feel that my strength is yours: In the day of Armageddon, at the last great fight of all, That Our House stand together and the pillars do not fall.

When your Daemon is in charge, do not try to think consciously. Drift, wait, and obey.

If you hit a pony over the nose at the outset of your acquaintance, he may not love you but he will take a deep interest in your movements ever afterwards

If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.

For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

When a crew and a captain understand each other to the core, it takes a gale, and more than a gale, to put their ship ashore.

Humble because of knowledge; mighty by sacrifice.

Many religious people are deeply suspicious. They seem, for purely religious purposes, of course, to know more about iniquity than the unregenerate.

War is an ill thing, as I surely know. But 'twould be an ill world for weaponless dreamers if evil men were not now and then slain.

it's always best to tell the truth.

The wild hawk to the wind-swept sky The deer to the wholesome wold; And the heart of a man to the heart of a maid, As it was in the days of old.

No one thinks of winter when the grass is green.

And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart, till the Devil whispered behind the leaves 'It's pretty, but is it Art?'

A woman's guess is much more accurate than a man's certainty.

I have seen something of this world," she said over the trays, "and there are but two sorts of women in it-- those who take the strength out of a man, and those who put it back. Once I was that one, and now I am this.

A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition

Politics are not my concern.... They impressed me as a dog's life without a dog's decencies.

(An unhappy childhood was not) an unsuitable preparation for my future, in that it demanded a constant wariness, the habit of observation, and the attendance on moods and tempers; the noting of discrepancies between speech and action; a certain reserve of demeanour; and automatic suspicion of sudden favours.