Rudyard Kipling
The Jungle Book, published in 1894, stands as one of Rudyard Kipling's most noted works of fiction and remains among the titles most closely associated with his name.
Kipling was born on 30 December 1865 in Bombay, in British India. He was educated at the United Services College, and his working life drew on an unusually broad range of roles: journalist, war correspondent, poet, novelist, children's writer, prose writer, screenwriter, and librettist. He wrote in English across all of these forms, and his output extended further still into science fiction and autobiography. Among the works that stand alongside The Jungle Book in his noted output are the poem "If—," the novel Kim, the Just So Stories, the verse "Gunga Din," and The Second Jungle Book.
Kipling received the Nobel Prize in Literature, a distinction that placed him among the recognized English-language writers of his era. He also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Strasbourg. A citizen of the United Kingdom, he died in London on 18 January 1936.
The Second Jungle Book is listed among his notable works, appearing in the same company as the 1894 volume that preceded it. Kipling, who had been born in Bombay and educated in Britain, worked across journalism, verse, and long fiction throughout his career, producing a body of writing in English that spanned decades. He died in London, the city where his life ended on 18 January 1936.
Quotes by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling's insights on:
We 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.
I am earth, overtaking all things except words. They alone escape me. Therefore, I lie heavy on their makers.
Hast thou given a peacock goodly wings, To please his foolishness? Sit down at the heart of men and things, Companion of the Press!
The American does not drink at meals a sensible man should. Indeed he has no meals. He stuffs for ten minutes rice a day.
Where, blue as any peacock's neck, the Tyrrhene Ocean shines, You'll go where laurel crowns are won, but--will you e'er forget.
I do not look for holy saints to guide me on my way, / Or male and female devilkins to lead my feet astray. / If these are added, I rejoice---if not, I shall not mind, / So long as I have leave and choice to meet my fellow-kind. / For as we come and as we go (and deadly-soon go we!) / The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!
Five and twenty ponies, / Trotting through the dark— / Brandy for the Parson, / 'Baccy for the Clerk; / Laces for a lady, letters for a spy, / Watch the wall, my darling, while the / Gentlemen go by!
And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master shall blame; / And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame, / But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star, / Shall draw the thing as he sees It for God of Things as they are.
He wrapped himself in quotations as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.
Our loves are not given but only lent, / At compound interest of cent percent. / Though it is not always the case, I believe, / That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve: / For, when debts are payable, right or wrong, / A short-time loan is as bad as along.