173 quotes
I've taken my fun where I've found it,
An' now I must pay for my fun,
For the more you 'ave known o' the others
The less will you settle to one.
Barrack-Room Ballads (1892)
We know that the tail must wag the dog, for the horse is drawn by the cart;
But the Devil whoops, as he whooped of old: “It's clever, but is it Art?”
But I consort with long-haired things
In velvet collar-rolls,
Who talk about the Aims of Art,
And ‘theories’ and ‘goals’,
And moo and coo with women-folk
About their blessed souls.
In Partibus (1909)
If 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!
When next he came to me he was drunk—royally drunk on many poets for the first time revealed to him. His pupils were dilated, his words tumbled over each other, and he wrapped himself in quotations—as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of emperors.
The Finest Story in the World (1893)
“Stand up, stand up now, Tomlinson, and answer loud and high
“The good that ye did for the sake of men or ever ye came to die—
“The good that ye did for the sake of men in little earth so lone!”
And the naked soul of Tomlinson grew white as a rain-washed bone.
From little towns in a far land we came,
To save our honour and a world aflame.
By little towns in a far land we sleep,
And trust the world we won for you to keep.
Epitaphs of the War (1914-1918) (1918)
When Earth's last picture is painted and the tubes are twisted and dried,
When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic has died,
We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it—lie down for an aeon or two,
Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall put us to work anew!
The Seven Seas (1896)
I've taken my fun where I've found it;
I've rogued an' I've ranged in my time.
Barrack-Room Ballads (1892)
For to admire an' for to see,
For to be'old this world so wide—
It never done no good to me,
But I can't drop it if I tried!
Barrack-Room Ballads (1892)
I have written the tale of our life
For a sheltered people's mirth,
In jesting guise—but ye are wise,
And ye know what the jest is worth.
Departmental Ditties and other Verses (1886)
Cities and Thrones and Powers,
Stand in Time's eye,
Almost as long as flowers,
Which daily die:
But, as new buds put forth
To glad new men,
Out of the spent and unconsidered Earth,
The Cities rise again.
Puck of Pook's Hill (1906)
It was our fault, and our very great fault—and now we must turn it to use.
We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.
... scandals are only increased by hushing them up.
The Gardener (1925)
All gods have good points, just as have all priests. Personally, I attach much importance to Hanuman, and am kind to his people—the great gray apes of the hills. One never knows when one may want a friend.
Life's Handicap (1891)
* For heathen heart that puts her trust
in reeking tube and iron shard,
all valiant dust that builds on dust
and guarding calls not thee to guard
for frantic boast and foolish word
thy mercy on thy people lord!
Departmental Ditties and other Verses (1886)
There are only two divisions in the world to-day — human beings and Germans. And the German knows it. Human beings have long ago sickened of him and everything connected with him, of all he does, says, thinks and believes.
E'en as he trod that day to God,
So walked he from his birth,
In simpleness, and gentleness and honor
And clean mirth.
Now I possess and am possessed of the land where I would be,
And the curve of half Earth's generous breast shall soothe and ravish me!
Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there aren't no Ten Commandments, an' a man can raise a thirst.
Barrack-Room Ballads (1892)