When Earth's Last Picture Is Painted

by Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)

- Author of the well known story, "The Jungle Book"

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 put us to work anew.

And those that were good shall be happy; they shall sit in a golden chair;
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comets' hair.
They shall find real saints to draw from -- Magdalene, Peter, and Paul;
They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at all!

And only The Master shall praise us, and only The Master shall blame;
And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame,
But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as They are!
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Quotes by Rudyard Kipling
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A woman's guess is much more accurate than a man's certainty.
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And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart, till the Devil whispered behind the leaves "It's pretty, but is it Art?"
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Borrow trouble for yourself, if that's your nature, but don't lend it to your neighbours.
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Down to Gehenna, or up to the Throne, He travels the fastest who travels alone.
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For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
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For the sin they do by two and two, they must pay for one by one.
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The silliest woman can manage a clever man; but it needs a very clever woman to manage a fool.
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We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.
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If you don't get what you want, it's a sign either that you did not seriously want it, or that you tried to bargain over the price
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Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears

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