150 years ago today, 30th December Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay India. This idyllic start in life was to end abruptly when as was customary, he and his siblings were sent to England to be receive their education.
The couple who boarded him were intolerably cruel and in his autobiography Kipling reminisces about the years spent living under Mrs Holloway’s harshness saying “If you cross-examine a child of seven or eight on his day’s doings (specially when he wants to go to sleep) he will contradict himself very satisfactorily. If each contradiction be set down as a lie and retailed at breakfast, life is not easy. I have known a certain amount of bullying, but this was calculated torture—religious as well as scientific. Yet it made me give attention to the lies I soon found it necessary to tell: and this, I presume, is the foundation of literary effort” and crediting those lies for his early literary leanings. It seems wrong to be thankful for such cruelties but I cannot help but be strangely grateful for anything that lengthened Kipling’s writing career.
With that in mind, what else could we do to celebrate this wonderful author’s birthday than to pick out 10 wonderful quotes that could just as easily be used today.
“I never made a mistake in my life; at least, never one that I couldn’t explain away afterwards.”
“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”
“We’re all islands shouting lies to each other across seas of misunderstanding.”
“A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty.”
“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition”
“Take everything you like seriously, except yourselves.”
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”
“The world is very lovely, and it’s very horrible–and it doesn’t care about your life or mine or anything else.”
“This is a brief life, but in its brevity it offers us some splendid moments, some meaningful adventures.”
“There is no sin so great as ignorance. Remember this.”
Such a lovely turn of phrase and such an insight into the ways of the world; it is no wonder that Rudyard Kipling is as loved today as he was during his lifetime.
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