Quotes from Just So Stories

“Of course the Man was wild too. He was dreadfully wild. He didn't even begin to be tame till he met the Woman, and she told him that she did not like living in his wild ways. She picked out a nice dry Cave, instead of a heap of wet leaves, to lie down in; and she strewed clean sand on the floor; and she lit a nice fire of wood at the back of the Cave; and she hung a dried wild-horse skin, tail down, across the opening of the Cave; and she said, 'Wipe your feet, dear, when you come in, and now we'll keep house.”
― Rudyard Kipling, quote from Just So Stories

“Hear and attend and listen; for this befell and behappened and became and was: O my Best Beloved, when the tame animals were wild.”
― Rudyard Kipling, quote from Just So Stories

“What is this," said the leopard,"that is so 'sclusively dark, and yet so full of little pieces of light?”
― Rudyard Kipling, quote from Just So Stories

“... and when the moon gets up and night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild Trees or on the Wet Wild Roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone.”
― Rudyard Kipling, quote from Just So Stories

“You must not forget the suspenders, Best Beloved.”
― Rudyard Kipling, quote from Just So Stories

“The Man went to sleep in front of the fire ever so happy; but the Woman sat up, combing her hair. She took the bone of the shoulder of mutton – the big fat blade bone – and she looked at the wonderful marks on it, and she threw more wood on the fire, and she made a Magic. She made the first Singing Magic in the world.”
― Rudyard Kipling, quote from Just So Stories

“And the Eldest Magician said, 'How wise are little children who see and are silent!”
― Rudyard Kipling, quote from Just So Stories

“This, O my Best Beloved is a story – a new and wonderful story – a story quite different from the other stories”
― Rudyard Kipling, quote from Just So Stories

“But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.”
― Rudyard Kipling, quote from Just So Stories

“IN the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fishes. He ate the starfish and the garfish, and the crab and the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the mackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel. All the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth—so! Till at last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small 'Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale's right ear, so as to be out of harm's way. Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said, 'I'm hungry.' And the small 'Stute Fish said in a small 'stute voice, 'Noble and generous Cetacean, have you ever tasted Man?”
― Rudyard Kipling, quote from Just So Stories

“The camel's hump is an ugly lump,
Which well you might see at the zoo.
But uglier yet is the hump we get,
For having to little to do.”
― Rudyard Kipling, quote from Just So Stories

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.