Rudyard Kipling, Who Revered Shakespeare, Pens His Favorite Quotation From the Bard

“I can give you nothing equal to this. To my mind it has never been surpassed, nor will it ever be.”

Rudyard Kipling had a good knowledge of, and affection for, the works of William Shakespeare, paying him the compliment of imitating him in the enchanting “Proofs of Holy Writ”, in which Shakespeare is drinking with Ben Jonson in an orchard, where he redrafts some verses of Isaiah for the new 'Authorized' translation of the Bible for King James I. Other Kipling Shakespeare parodies include “The Muse Among the Motors”, “Gow’s Watch”, and “The Marred Drives of Windsor”. There are numerous references to Shakespeare's work in Kipling's writings, from the echoes of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in Puck of Pook’s Hill and Rewards and Fairies, to “Love o’ Women” in Many Inventions, the poem “The Craftsman, and "The Propagation of Knowledge" in Debits and Credits. When the Kipling family was in India, they would have “Shakespeare Evenings” when all conversation had to be in the form of quotations from Shakespeare.

This is Kipling’s favorite quotation from Shakespeare, completely in his hand. Autograph quotation signed, Bateman's, Burwash, Sussex, 1912, being a nine line quotation from “The Merchant of Venice”, saying famously that appearances can be deceiving and chasing fortune may be unrewarding in the end.
“All that glitters is not gold –
Often have you heard that told.
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold.
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgment old,
Your answer had not been inscrolled.
Fare you sell; your suit is cold.

Merchant of Venice, Act II, Sc. 7.”

Kipling adds below, “I can give you nothing equal to this. To my mind it has never been surpassed, nor will it ever be.”