Rudyard Kipling

When Earth's last picture is painted, and the tubes are twisted
and dried,
When the oldest colours have read more

When Earth's last picture is painted, and the tubes are twisted
and dried,
When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic has
died,
We shall rest, and faith, we shall need it--lie down for an aeon
or two,
Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall set us to work anew.

We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.

We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.

No printed word, nor spoken plea can teach young minds what they should be. Not all the books on all read more

No printed word, nor spoken plea can teach young minds what they should be. Not all the books on all the shelves – but what the teachers are themselves.

And the talk slid north, and the talk slid south
With the sliding puffs from the hookah-mouth;
read more

And the talk slid north, and the talk slid south
With the sliding puffs from the hookah-mouth;
Four things greater than all things are--
Women and Horses and Power and War.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "Savior of 'is country" when read more

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "Savior of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.