- "The Law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, forbids every beast to eat Man except when he is killing to show his children how to kill, and then he must hunt outside the hunting-grounds of his pack or tribe. The real reason for this is that man-killing means, sooner or later, the arrival of white men on elephants, with guns, and hundreds of brown men with gongs and rockets and torches. Then everybody in the jungle suffers. The reason the beasts give among themselves is that Man is the weakest and most defenseless of all living things, and it is unsportsmanlike to touch him."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Mowgli's Brothers - "I have no gift of words, but I speak the truth."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Mowgli's Brothers - "There is no harm in a man's cub."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Mowgli's Brothers - "None can hope to lead the Pack forever."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Mowgli's Brothers - "He was thinking of the time that comes to every leader of every pack when his strength goes from him and he gets feebler and feebler, till at last he is killed by the wolves and a new leader comes up--to be killed in his turn."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Mowgli's Brothers - "The others they hate thee because their eyes cannot meet thine; because thou art wise; because thou hast pulled out thorns from their feet--because thou art a man."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Mowgli's Brothers - "What is the Law of the Jungle? Strike first and then give tongue."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Mowgli's Brothers - "Fire.... Every beast lives in deadly fear of it."
Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Mowgli's Brothers - "His spots are the joy of the Leopard: his horns are the Buffalo's pride--
Be clean, for the strength of the hunter is known by the gloss of his hide."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Maxims of Baloo - "Oppress not the cubs of the stranger, but hail them as Sister and Brother,
For though they are little and fubsy, it may be the Bear is their mother."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Maxims of Baloo - "'There is none like to me!"' says the Cub in the pride of his earliest kill;
But the Jungle is large and the Cub he is small. Let him think and be still."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Maxims of Baloo - "None of the Jungle People like being disturbed."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Kaa's Hunting - "As the moon came up behind the hill it shone through the openwork, casting shadows on the ground like black-velvet embroidery."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Kaa's Hunting - "Well, if I am a man, a man I must become."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Tiger! Tiger! - "In the jungle, life and food depend on keeping your temper."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Tiger! Tiger! - "Why should I waste wisdom on a river-turtle?"
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Toomai of the Elephants
Jungle Book Quotes
Rudyard Kipling's Beloved Collection of Short Stories - The Jungle Book
By Esther Lombardi, About.com
Rudyard Kipling is often best remembered for The Jungle Book, which has spun off into many types of adaptations. Here are just a few of the quotes from this famous collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling.
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