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!
Rudyard KiplingRead
Gentleman-rankers out on the spree, damned from here to Eternity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the struggles and the disillusionment faced by soldiers and those living on society's fringes.
Rudyard Kipling's quote highlights the plight of 'gentleman-rankers', which refers to soldiers of noble birth who find themselves at odds with their social status. The phrase 'damned from here to Eternity' encapsulates their sense of hopelessness and the burdens they bear, suggesting a life of suffering and discontent that extends beyond death into eternity.
Themes
SoldiersStruggleDisillusionmentEternityHopelessness
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about the sacrifices made by soldiers during war.
More from Rudyard Kipling
All quotes βHumble because of knowledge; mighty by sacrifice.
Rudyard KiplingRead
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
Rudyard KiplingRead
I keep six honest serving men.
Rudyard KiplingRead
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden, You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden.
Rudyard KiplingRead
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.
Rudyard KiplingRead
Similar quotes
The simple life on the farm was everything to me. Nothing was more relaxing after a long plane flight than to reach the winding driveway that led up to my house. The quiet of the night was more soothing than a sleeping pill.
Elisabeth Kubler-RossRead
You don't know. When I'm out there at night I feel close to my own body, I can feel my blood moving, my skin and fingernails, everything, it's like I'm full of electricity and I'm glowing in the dark - I'm on fire almost - I'm burning away into nothing - but it doesn't matter because I know exactly who I am.
Tim O'BrienRead
O polished perturbation! golden care! That keep'st the ports of slumber open wide To many a watchful night.
William ShakespeareRead
What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play; Life is a cabaret, old chum, Come to the cabaret.
Fred EbbRead
Every person my size has a different life, a different history. Different ways of dealing with it. Just because I'm seemingly O.K. with it, I can't preach how to be O.K. with it. I don't think I still am O.K. with it. There's days when I'm not.
Peter DinklageRead
My wish simply is to live my life as fully as I can. In both our work and our leisure, I think, we should be so employed. And in our time this means that we must save ourselves from the products that we are asked to buy in order, ultimately, to replace ourselves.
Wendell BerryRead