The motto of all the mongoose family is, "Run and find out," and Rikki-tikki was a true mongoose.

There are nine-and-sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, And every single one of them is right.

The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.

Twenty bridges from Tower to Kew — (Twenty bridges or twenty two) — Wanted to know what the River knew, For they were young, and the Thames was old And this is the tale that River told.

(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.

Funny how the new things are the old things.

Who has smelled the woodsmoke at twilight, who has seen the campfire burning, who is quick to read the noises of the night?