Rudyard Kipling

Mantenho seis servos honestos
(que me ensinaram tudo o que sei);
Os seus nomes são O quê e Porquê e Quando
e Como e Onde e Quem.
E envio-os por terra e mar,
Envio-os do este ao oeste,
mas depois de terem trabalhado por mim,
Dou-lhe todo o descanso.



I KEEP six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.


I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
I know a person small—
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!


She sends'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes—
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!

[excerto de: The Elephant's Child]

Kipling também disse:
A woman's guess is much more accurate than a man's certainty.

A man's mind is wont to tell him more than seven watchmen sitting in a tower.

A people always ends by resembling its shadow.

Asia is not going to be civilized after the methods of the West. There is too much Asia and she is too old.

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

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

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