Not only do words infect, egotize, narcotize, and paralyze, but they enter into and colour the minutest cells of the brain. . . .
Rudyard KiplingOften and often afterwards, the beloved Aunt would ask me why I had never told anyone how I was being treated. Children tell little more than animals, for what comes to them they accept as eternally established.
Rudyard KiplingAll we have of freedom All we use or know This our fathers bought for us Long and long ago
Rudyard KiplingIt thrilled through him when he first felt the keel answer to his hand on the spokes and slide over the long hollows as the foresail scythed back and forth against the blue sky.
Rudyard KiplingWhen your Daemon is in charge, do not try to think consciously. Drift, wait, and obey.
Rudyard KiplingBe slow to judge for we know little of what has been done and nothing of what has been resisted.
Rudyard KiplingBut remember please, the Law by which we live, we are not built to comprehend a lie, we can neither love nor pity nor forgive. If you make a slip in handling us you die.
Rudyard KiplingLet 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.
Rudyard KiplingWe'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!
Rudyard KiplingAll 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!
Rudyard KiplingA tale from which pieces have been raked out is like a fire that has been poked. One does not know the operation has been performed, but everyone feels the effect.
Rudyard KiplingIf 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.
Rudyard KiplingAt 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.
Rudyard KiplingOur hearts where they rocked our cradle, Our love where we spent our toil, And our faith, and our hope, and our honor, We pledge to our native soil. God gave all men all earth to love, But since our hearts are small, Ordained for each one spot should prove Beloved over all.
Rudyard KiplingIf I were hanged on the highest hill, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! I know whose love would follow me still, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! If I were drowned in the deepest sea, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! I know whose tears would come down to me, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! If I were damned of body and soul, I know whose prayers would make me whole, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!
Rudyard KiplingHear and attend and listen; for this is what befell and be-happened and became and was, O my Best Beloved, when the Tame animals were wild. The dog was wild, and the Horse was wild, and the Cow was wild, and the Sheep was wild, and the Pig was wild -as wild as wild could be - and they walked in the Wet Wild Woods by their wild lones. But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself and all places were alike to him
Rudyard KiplingNot 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.
Rudyard KiplingIt 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.
Rudyard KiplingIf 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.
Rudyard KiplingShere Khan, the Big One, has shifted his hunting grounds. He will hunt among these hills for the next moon, so he has told me.
Rudyard KiplingNations 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.
Rudyard KiplingGo softly by that river side Or when you would depart, You'll find its every winding tied; And knotted round your heart.
Rudyard KiplingWe had a kettle; we let it leak: Our not repairing made it worse. We haven't had any tea for a week... The bottom is out of the Universe.
Rudyard KiplingNo one as yet has approached the management of New York in a proper spirit; that is to say, regarding it as the shiftless outcome of squalid barbarism and reckless extravagance. No one is likely to do so, because reflections on the long narrow pig-trough are construed as malevolent attacks against the spirit and majesty of the American people, and lead to angry comparisons.
Rudyard KiplingSan Francisco is a mad city - inhabited for the most part by perfectly insane people whose women are of a remarkable beauty.
Rudyard KiplingWhen young lips have drunk deep of the bitter waters of hate, suspicion and despair, all the love in the world will not wholly take away that knowledge. Though it may turn darkened eyes for a while to the light, and teach faith where no faith was.
Rudyard KiplingA thin grey fog hung over the city, and the streets were very cold; for summer was in England.
Rudyard KiplingIf you do not get what you want, it is a sure sign that you did not seriously want it.
Rudyard KiplingWar 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.
Rudyard KiplingA boy of to-day is affected by every change of tone and gust of opinion, so that he lies even when he desires to speak the truth.
Rudyard Kipling