Rudyard Kipling

Name: Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away
Author: Rudyard Kipling

Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away (1889)

Summary

“Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away”, published in 1889, is a work by Rudyard Kipling. It explores elements such as amusement, The Boy and soap.

Quotes from Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away (Rudyard Kipling)

Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away (1889)

“ One half of this came from inexperience—much as the puppy squabbles with the corner of the hearthrug—and the other half from the dizziness bred by stumbling out of his quiet life into the glare and excitement of a livelier one. No one told him about the soap and the blacking, because an average man takes it for granted that an average man is ordinarily careful in regard to them. It was pitiful to watch The Boy knocking himself to pieces, as an over-handled colt falls down and cuts himself when he gets away from the groom. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away (1889)

“ TO rear a boy under what parents call the "sheltered life system" is, if the boy must go into the world and fend for himself, not wise. Unless he be one in a thousand he has certainly to pass through many unnecessary troubles; and may, possibly, come to extreme grief simply from ignorance of the proper proportions of things.
Let a puppy eat the soap in the bath-room or chew a newly-blacked boot. He chews and chuckles until, by and bye, he finds out that blacking and Old Brown Windsor make him very sick; so he argues that soap and boots are not wholesome. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away (1889)

“ There was a Boy once who had been brought up under the "sheltered life" theory; and the theory killed him dead. He stayed with his people all his days, from the hour he was born till the hour he went into Sandhurst nearly at the top of the list. He was beautifully taught in all that wins marks by a private tutor, and carried the extra weight of "never having given his parents an hour's anxiety in his life." What he learnt at Sandhurst beyond the regular routine is of no great consequence. He looked about him, and he found soap and blacking, so to speak, very good. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away (1889)

“ Nothing matters except Home-furlough and acting allowances, and these only because they are scarce. This is a slack, kutcha country where all men work with imperfect instruments; and the wisest thing is to take no one and nothing in earnest, but to escape as soon as ever you can to some place where amusement is amusement and a reputation worth the having.
But this Boy—the tale is as old as the Hills—came out, and took all things seriously. He was pretty and was petted. He took the pettings seriously and fretted over women not worth saddling a pony to call upon. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away (1889)

“ Any old dog about the house will soon show him the unwisdom of biting big dogs' ears. Being young, he remembers and goes abroad, at six months, a well-mannered little beast with a chastened appetite. If he had been kept away from boots, and soap, and big dogs till he came to the trinity full-grown and with developed teeth, just consider how fearfully sick and thrashed he would be! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away (1889)

“ Good work does not matter, because a man is judged by his worst output and another man takes all the credit of his best as a rule. Bad work does not matter, because other men do worse and incompetents hang on longer in India than anywhere else. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away (1889)

“ Amusements do not matter, because you must repeat them as soon as you have accomplished them once, and most amusements only mean trying to win another person's money. Sickness does not matter, because it's all in the day's work and if you die another man takes over your place and your office in the eight hours between death and burial. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away (1889)

“ Too much work and too much energy kill a man just as effectively as too much assorted vice or too much drink. Flirtation does not matter, because every one is being transferred and either you or she leave the Station, and never return. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away (1889)

“ Next morning one of the Majors came in from short leave, and heard that The Boy had gone out to shoot "big game." The Major had taken an interest in The Boy, and had, more than once, tried to check him in the cold weather. The Major put up his eyebrows when he heard of the expedition and went to The Boy's rooms where he rummaged.
Presently he came out and found me leaving cards on the Mess. There was no one else in the ante-room.
He said: "The Boy has gone out shooting. Does a man shoot tetur with a revolver and writing-case?" ”

Rudyard Kipling

Summary

Quotes from Plain Tales from the Hills — Thrown Away (Rudyard Kipling)

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