We have done with Hope and Honour. we are lost to Love and Truth, We are dropping down the ladder rung by rung; And the measure of our torment is the measure of our youth. God help us, for we knew the worst too young!
Four things greater than all things are Women and horses and power and War.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that women, horses, power, and war are of paramount importance in life.
Rudyard Kipling's quote reflects on the profound influence and significance of four entities—women, horses, power, and war—in the human experience. By framing these elements as greater than all else, he highlights their pivotal roles in shaping society, culture, and individual lives. The mention of women emphasizes their importance, while horses signify loyalty and strength, power represents authority and control, and war embodies conflict and struggle. Together, they encapsulate key aspects of existence and the complexities of human relations.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about the role of women in society, one could use this quote to emphasize their significance.
More from Rudyard Kipling
All quotes →Humble because of knowledge; mighty by sacrifice.
Hear and attend and listen; for this is what befell and be-happened and became and was, O my Best Beloved, when the Tame animals were wild. The dog was wild, and the Horse was wild, and the Cow was wild, and the Sheep was wild, and the Pig was wild -as wild as wild could be - and they walked in the Wet Wild Woods by their wild lones. But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself and all places were alike to him
I keep six honest serving men.
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden, You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden.
Savings represent much more than mere money value. They are the proof that the saver is worth something in himself. Any fool can waste; any fool can muddle; but it takes something more of a man to save and the more he saves the more of a man he makes of himself. Waste and extravagance unsettle a man's mind for every crisis; thrift, which means some form of self-restraint, steadies it.
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A lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies.
Be careful, lest in casting out your demon you exorcise the best thing in you.
Commemoration of John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631 He was the Word that spake it; He took the bread and brake it; And what that Word did make it I do believe, and take it.
I am ashamed every day, and more ashamed the next. But I will spend the rest of my life in this living space writing these notes, this journal, recording my acts and reflections, finding some honor, some worth at the bottom of things. I want ten thousand pages that will stop the world.
He that comes to Christ cannot, it is true, always get on as fast as he would. Poor coming soul, thou art like the man that would ride full gallop whose horse will hardly trot. Now the desire of his mind is not to be judged of by the slow pace of the dull jade he rides on, but by the hitching and kicking and spurring as he sits on his back. Thy flesh is like this dull jade, it will not gallop after Christ, it will be backward though thy soul and heaven lie at stake.