“Such a man is more likely than not to waste his own time and the patience of his friends by inventing schemes which have been tried, found wanting, and laid aside.”

Warning against reinventing failed ideas through ignorance of history. · Speech, The Uses of Reading, 1912

• Experience
• Knowledge
• Learning

“The most doubtful originality is that which the inventor attributes to his ignorance of all previous plans coupled with his isolated position in life.”

Kipling uses the observation to argue that genuine originality requires knowledge of what came before. · Speech, The Uses of Reading, 1912, quoting a book on inventions

• Knowledge
• Learning
• Originality

“A man who goes into life without a certain acquaintance with the classics and the value of words is as heavily handicapped as a man who takes up sports without knowing what has been done before.”

Linking literary knowledge with the standards gained from knowing one's predecessors. · Speech, The Uses of Reading, 1912

• Knowledge
• Reading
• Tradition

“It is an asset towards prosperity, even for those whose lot will be cast altogether in one land, to get full and first-hand information about the men they will meet later.”

Arguing that understanding other people is itself a practical advantage. · Speech, Work in the Future, 1924

• Community
• Knowledge
• Success

“The only advantage I have over you is that you have not yet the words in which to express your knowledge, and—you are not allowed to contradict me.”

A humorous acknowledgement of the knowledge children possess before they have the language to articulate it. · Speech, School Experiences, 1929

• Children
• Humour
• Knowledge

“I cannot claim to have travelled widely, but I have met many travellers.”

Distinguishing personal travel from knowledge gained through other travellers. · Speech, Some Aspects of Travel, 1914

• Experience
• Knowledge
• Travel

“One of the hardest things to realise, specially for a young man, is that our forefathers were living men who really knew something.”

Encouraging respect for the accumulated knowledge of earlier generations. · Speech, The Uses of Reading, 1912

• History
• Knowledge
• Youth

“He doesn’t know the records and so he can’t have any standards.”

Linking knowledge of the past with the ability to judge present work. · Speech, The Uses of Reading, 1912

• Knowledge
• Literature
• Standards

“To their skill, sympathy, humour, and, above all, knowledge, we owe more than we realise.”

Recognising the quiet value of talented people who remain underappreciated. · Speech, The Claims of Art, 1907

• Art
• Friendship
• Knowledge

“Experience had taught them to be humble. For that reason their knowledge was increased.”

Linking intellectual progress with humility and recognition of what remains unknown. · Speech, Surgeons and the Soul, 1923

• Experience
• Humility
• Knowledge