I read these lines:
Quote:
‘That is all very beautiful sentiment,’ I said, ‘but it is not practical. It is not like you.
He either fears his fate too much,
Or his desert is small,
Who dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all.’
‘I dare not ask the question whether there is another!’ he said passionately. ‘It would break my heart to know it!’
‘Yet is it wise to leave it unasked? You must not waste your life upon an “if”!’
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And was strongly reminded of the Kipling poem "If", enough to wonder whether it had been inspired by that poem ... only to see that "If" was first
written in 1895, and this book first published in 1889. So now I am left wondering whether Kipling gained some inspiration from Carroll or whether they both gained inspiration the same source. The quoted poem in Sylvie and Bruno is from James Graham (1612-1650), if this source
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_...ss_of_Montrose is not in error.
Just a curiosity.