IF

by Rudyard Kippling



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 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 on one turn of pitch and toss

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe 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 on 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 foe nor loving friend 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 distant run.

Yours is the earth, and everything that's in it.

And which is more ... You'll be a Man, my son.