When Curiosity Rests: Kipling’s Call to Reawaken Wonder
In six short lines, Kipling reminds us that the questions that build our world deserve more than a nine-to-five existence.
I Keep Six Honest Serving Men
Rudyard Kipling
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.
I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
I know a person small
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!
She sends em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes
One million Hows, Two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!
Reflection:
Kipling’s I Keep Six Honest Serving Men quietly delivers a truth we often lose as we grow: curiosity, once endless, becomes rationed. These “serving men”—What, Why, When, How, Where, and Who—once tirelessly fueled our understanding of the world. They carry the power to open doors, spark wonder, and guide discovery. Yet adulthood tames them, consigns them to office hours, giving them “rest.” Meanwhile, children—bright-eyed, untamed—keep those questions alive in ceaseless inquiry. Kipling’s poem is a small, graceful poem and a big invitation: to reclaim our born capacity to ask.
Questions to Dive Deeper:
- Which of the six questions do you find yourself neglecting most often, and what might it open if you invited it back into your daily thinking?
- How would your perspective change if you gave those questions—What, Why, When, How, Where, Who—a little “playtime” outside 9–5?
- Who is “the person small” in your life that keeps curiosity alive, and what lessons can you learn by watching how they ask questions?