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Quotes by Rudyard Kipling - Stalky & Co by Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling Quotations

Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936) British novelist and poet

• From The Ballad of East and West

"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,

Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,

When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!"

• From The Betrothed

"And a woman is only a woman, but a good Cigar is a Smoke."

• From The Conundrum of the Workshops

"It's clever, but is it Art?"

(Other lines of the poem substitute "pretty", "human", or "it" in place of "clever".)

• From The Law for the Wolves

"For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack."

• Excerpts from Gunga Din

"You may talk o' gin and beer

When you're quartered safe out 'ere,

An' you're sent to penny-fights an' Aldershot it;

But when it comes to slaughter

You will do your work on water,

An' you'll lick the bloomin' boots of 'im that's got it.

...

So I'll meet 'im later on

At the place where 'e is gone —

Where it's always double drill and no canteen.

'E'll be squattin' on the coals

Givin' drink to poor damned souls,

An' I'll get a swig in hell from Gunga Din!

Yes, Din! Din! Din!

You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din!

Though I've belted you and flayed you,

By the livin' Gawd that made you,

You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!"

• From If

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;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

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 imposters just the same;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can talk with crowds 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!

• From The Islanders

"And what did ye look they should compass?

Warcraft learned in a breath,

Knowledge unto occasion

at the first far view of Death?"

...

Humble because of knowledge; mighty by sacrifice."

• From The Lesson (1899-1902)

"It was our fault, and our very great fault —and now we must turn it to use.

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

• From Epitaphs of the War

"If any question why we died,

Tell them, because our fathers lied."

• Excerpt from Mandalay

"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,

Where there aren't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst;"

• From Screw-Guns

So when we take tea with a few guns,

o' course you will know what to do —hoo! hoo!

• From The Vampire

"A fool there was and he made his prayer

(Even as you and I!)

To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair

(We called her the woman who did not care),

But the fool he called her his lady fair

(Even as you and I!)"

• From The Young British Soldier

"When first under fire an' you're wishful to duck,

Don't look nor take 'eed at the man that is struck,

Be thankful you're livin', and trust to your luck

And march to your front like a soldier.

Front, front, front like a soldier...

...

If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white,

Remember it's ruin to run from a fight:

So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,

And wait for supports like a soldier.

Wait, wait, wait like a soldier...

...

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

An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

Go, go, go like a soldier,

Go, go, go like a soldier,

Go, go, go like a soldier,

So-oldier of the Queen!"

Others:

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

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