Frases de Rudyard Kipling

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“Si en la lucha el destino te derriba.
Si todo en tu camino es cuesta arriba.

Si tu sonrisa es ansia insatisfecha.
Si hay faena excesiva y mala cosecha.

Si a tu caudal se contraponen diques,
date una tregua. ¡Pero no claudiques!”

“La intuición de una mujer es más precisa que la certeza de un hombre.”

“Hay dos cosas más grandes que todo lo demás. La primera es el amor y la segunda la guerra… Y como no sabemos en que va acabar la guerra, vida mía, hablemos de amor…”

“Al éxito y al fracaso, esos dos impostores, trátalos siempre con la misma indiferencia.”

“El éxito comienza en la voluntad”

“Nunca he cometido un error en mi vida. Al menos, ninguno que no haya podido justificar después.”

“No sólo éramos felices… ¡Además lo sabíamos!.”

“Las palabras son la más potente droga utilizada por la Humanidad.”

“No cabía la menor duda. Cerró los ojos y lo absorbió por completo. El sonido cesó de pronto.
—Vamos —murmuró a media voz—. Esto no es el fin.
El fin llegó luego con absoluta nitidez, como un arrullo entre dos ráfagas de lluvia. Mary Postgate soltó de golpe el aire entre los dientes y se estremeció de la cabeza a los pies.
Eso es —asintió con satisfacción, y volvió a la casa, poniendo patas arriba la rutina doméstica al darse el lujo de tomar un baño caliente antes del té, y después bajó con un aspecto que, al verla relajadamente tendida en el otro sofá, la señorita Fowler calificó de «¡muy atractivo!».”

“Entrometerse en el desatino del hombre es siempre una faena muy ingrata.”

“Seis honrados servidores
me enseñaron cuanto sé.
Sus nombres son cómo, cuándo,
dónde, qué, quién y por qué.”

“Si encomiendas a un hombre más de lo que puede buenamente hacer, lo hará. Si solamente le encomiendas lo que puede hacer, no hará nada.”

“Se aprende más de un erudito apasionado que de un montón de ganapanes de ardua brillantez.”

“Pero no podía mentir si le pagabas y moriría de hambre antes de robar.”

“Siempre me he inclinado a pensar bien de todo el mundo: evita muchos problemas.”

“No hay placer comparable al de encontrar un viejo amigo excepto el de logra uno nuevo.”

“Los peores embusteros son nuestros propios temores.”

“La oscuridad que conocemos nos fue otorgada como una gracia.”

“El poder sin responsabilidad. Esta es la prerrogativa de la ramera a través de los tiempos.”

“Dadme los cinco primeros años de la vida de un niño y tendréis el resto.”

“Cuando la tripulación y el capitán están cordialmente compenetrados, es preciso un temporal y más que un temporal para lanzar la nave a tierra.”

“Lleva a tu amigo Ha terminado con Hanuman, pero Hanuman no ha terminado con él.”

“Cuando tu Daemon esté a cargo, no intentes pensar conscientemente. Deriva, espera y obedece.”

“No hay pecado más grande quela ignorancia. Recuerda esto.”

“If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine.”

“They change their skies above them,
But not their hearts that roam!”

“San Francisco is a mad city—inhabited for the most part by perfectly insane people, whose women are of a remarkable beauty.”

“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 the God of Things as They Are!”

“But he couldn't lie if you paid him and he'd starve before he stole.”

“The toad beneath the harrow knows
Exactly where each tooth point goes;
The butterfly upon the road
Preaches contentment to that toad.”

“For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' “Chuck him out, the brute!”
But it's “Saviour of 'is country” when the guns begin to shoot.”

“And what did ye look they should compass?
Warcraft learned in a breath,
Knowledge unto occasion at the first far view of Death?
So? And ye train your horses and the dogs ye feed and prize?
How are the beasts more worthy than the souls, your sacrifice?
But ye said, “Their valour shall show them”; but ye said, “The end is close.”
And ye sent them comfits and pictures to help them harry your foes:
And ye vaunted your fathomless power, and ye flaunted your iron pride,
Ere—ye fawned on the Younger Nations for the men who could shoot and ride!
Then ye returned to your trinkets; then ye contented your souls
With the flannelled fools at the wicket or the muddied oafs at the goals.”

“When your Daemon is in charge, do not try to think consciously. Drift, wait, and obey.”

“It's like a book, I think, this bloomin' world,
Which you can read and care for just so long,
But presently you feel that you will die
Unless you get the page you're readin' done,
An' turn another—likely not so good;
But what you're after is to turn 'em all.”

““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.”

“An' I learned about women from 'er.”

“I've taken my fun where I've found it;
I've rogued an' I've ranged in my time.”

“East of Suez, some hold, the direct control of Providence ceases; Man being there handed over to the power of the Gods and Devils of Asia, and the Church of England Providence only exercising an occasional and modified supervision in the case of Englishmen.”

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

“Two things greater than all things are,
The first is Love, and the second War.”

“They've taken of his buttons off an' cut his stripes away,
An' they're hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin.”

““What are the bugles blowin' for?” said Files-on-Parade.
“To turn you out, to turn you out”, the Colour-Sergeant said.”

“For all we have and are,
For all our children's fate,
Stand up and take the war.
The Hun is at the gate!”

“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?””

“When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier of the Queen!”

“She read a little of it. I give her review verbatim: "Oh, your book? It's all about those how-wid Wajahs. I didn't understand it."”

“For ‘im that doth not work must surely die;
But that's no reason man should labour all
‘Is life on one same shift—life's none so long.”

“She has no strong white arms to fold you,
But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you—
Out on the rocks where the tide has rolled you.”

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

“There's a Legion that never was 'listed,
That carries no colours or crest,
But, split in a thousand detachments,
Is breaking the road for the rest.”

“When the cabin port-holes are dark and green
Because of the seas outside;
When the ship goes wop (with a wiggle between)
And the steward falls into the soup-tureen,
And the trunks begin to slide;
When Nursey lies on the floor in a heap,
And Mummy tells you to let her sleep,
And you aren't waked or washed or dressed,
Why, then you will know (if you haven't guessed)
You're ‘Fifty North and Forty West!”

“And oft-times cometh our wise Lord God, master of every trade,
And tells them tales of His daily toil, of Edens newly made;
And they rise to their feet as He passes by, gentlemen unafraid.”

“Take of English earth as much
As either hand may rightly clutch.
In the taking of it breathe
Prayer for all who lie beneath.”