Rudyard Kipling Quotes (Author of The Jungle Book)

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist. born on 30 December 1865 and passed away on 18 January 1936. He was born in British India, which greatly influenced his creative output.

67 Rudyard Kipling Quotes

  1. “Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears.”
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2. “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”

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3. “I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble”

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4. “I have my own matches and sulphur, and I’ll make my own hell.”

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

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6. “If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim.”

7. “You must learn to forgive a man when he’s in love. He’s always a nuisance.”

8. “No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.”

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

10. “A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty.”

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Famous Rudyard Kipling Quotes

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

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

13. “Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful!’ and sitting in the shade.”

14. “She is intensely human, and lives to look upon life.”

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

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16. “Take everything you like seriously, except yourselves.”

17. “I am, by calling, a dealer in words; and words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”

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

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

20. “It takes a great deal of Christianity to wipe out uncivilised Eastern instincts, such as falling in love at first sight.”

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Though-Provoking Rudyard Kipling Quotes

21. “The reason the beasts give among themselves is that Man is the weakest and most defenseless of all living things,”

22. “Everyone is more or less mad on one point.”

23. “Words are the most powerful drug used by humankind.”

24. “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.”

25. “My heart is heavy with the things I do not understand.”

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26. “There’s no jealousy in the grave.”

27. “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.”

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

29. “The Irish move to the sound of the guns like salmon to the sea”

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

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Rudyard Kipling Quotes About Life

31. “There is no sin so great as ignorance. Remember this.”

32. “I am, by calling, a dealer in words; and words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”

33. “Those who beg in silence starve in silence,”

34. “For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.”

35. “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.” 

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36. “All the people like us are we, and everyone else is they.”

37. “Borrow trouble for yourself, if that’s your nature, but don’t lend it to your neighbours.”

38. “You must not forget the suspenders, Best Beloved.”

39. “Many wear the robes, but few walk the Way.”

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

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Positive Rudyard Kipling Quotes

41. “If any question why we died, tell them, because our fathers lied.”

42. “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.” 

43. “Hearts are like horses. They come and they go against bit or spur.”

44. “Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade.”

45. “Follow the dream, and always the dream, and only the dream.”

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

47. “We’re all islands shouting lies to each other across seas of misunderstanding.”

48. “Words are the most powerful drug used by humankind.”

49. “Better he should be bruised from head to foot by me who love him than that he should come to harm through ignorance,”

50. “I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble”

51. “if I want a crown I must go and hunt it for myself.”

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52. “One of the beauties of Jungle Law is that punishment settles all scores. There is no nagging afterward.”

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

54. “A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition”

55. “God help us for we knew the worst too young.”

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56. “Whatever he knows of his weaknesses, Private Mulvaney is wholly ignorant of his strength.”

57. “If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim.”

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

59. “Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges — Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!”

60. “More men are killed by overwork than the importance of the world justifies.”

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61. “I have been fellow to a beggar again and again under circumstances which prevented either of us finding out whether the other was worthy.”

62. “Now, don’t be angry after you’ve been afraid. That’s the worst kind of cowardice.”

63. “Man is the weakest and most defenseless of all living things, and it is unsportsmanlike to touch him.”

64. “It does not matter what people think of a man after his death.”

65. “He travels the fastest who travels alone.”

66. “The air was full of all the night noises that, taken together, make one big silence…”

67. “Never look backwards or you’ll fall down the stairs.”

A must Read: – The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

This a Perceptive writing about several different jungle environments.

Among Kipling’s fictional works are the Jungle Book duology (The Jungle Book, 1894; The Second Jungle Book, 1895), Kim (1901), the Just So Stories (1902), and a number of short stories, including “The Man Who Would Be King” (1888). The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), “The White Man’s Burden” (1899), “Mandalay” (1890), “Gunga Din” (1890), “If—” (1910), and “The White Man’s Burden” (1899) are some of his poems. 

Additional Read.

Rudyard Kipling 1865–1936

10 Facts About Rudyard Kipling

10 of the Best Rudyard Kipling Poems Everyone Should Read

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