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
Often and often afterwards, the beloved Aunt would ask me why I had never told anyone how I was being treated. Children tell little more than animals, for what comes to them they accept as eternally established.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Children often accept their circumstances without questioning them, much like animals do.
In this quote, Rudyard Kipling reflects on the idea that children, much like animals, tend to accept their situations as fixed and unchangeable. This acceptance can stem from a lack of understanding or the inability to articulate their feelings and experiences, making it difficult for adults, like the beloved Aunt, to grasp the childhood struggles that may go unspoken.
Themes
ChildrenAcceptanceCircumstancesCommunicationEmotions
In practice
Example use cases
A teacher might use this quote to discuss the importance of encouraging students to express their feelings.
More from Rudyard Kipling
All quotes →Humble because of knowledge; mighty by sacrifice.
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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
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I keep six honest serving men.
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And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden, You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden.
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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
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