IF by Rudyard Kipling written in 1896

[True Black Raven]

IF

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 imposters 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 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!

[True Black Raven]

There are a lot of truths expressed in this poem and here is an example

The poem has become such an integral part of British culture that officials at Wimbledon's All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club had a couplet from the poem inscribed above the entryway to Centre Court:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster 

And treat those two imposters just the same.

[xizallian]

Love this poem and the quote, thanks for sharing, have an exalt.

[Q Man]

Classic Rudyard Kipling, he never gets old.

[Bartholmew Quarrels]

That is a great poem, and great advice for anyone. Those ways are dying out and soon will not even be a memory, but the human race will die alone with it.