IF by Rudyard Kipling

If

 

By Rudyard Kipling

 

{Rudyard Kipling's (1865-1936) inspirational poem 'If' first appeared in his collection 'Rewards and Fairies' in 1909. The poem 'If' is inspirational, motivational, and a set of rules for 'grown-up' living. Kipling's 'If' contains mottos and maxims for life, and the poem is also a blueprint for personal integrity, behaviour and self-development. 'If' is perhaps even more relevant today than when Kipling wrote it.  It is reproduced below as a tribute to the poem's timeless and inspiring quality.}

 

 

If you can keep your head when all about you

 

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

 

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

 

But make allowance for their doubting too,

 

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

 

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

 

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

 

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

 

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,

 

If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;

 

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

 

And treat those two impostors just the same;

 

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

 

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

 

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

 

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

 

 

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

 

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

 

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

 

And never breath a word about your loss;

 

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

 

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

 

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

 

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

 

 

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

 

Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,

 

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

 

If all men count with you, but none too much,

 

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

 

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

 

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

 

And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!