"If —" – Rudyard Kipling
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 stop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If 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 in 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.
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‘If―’ – Rudyard Kipling
1st Stanza
The poet addresses to his son….
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you wanted to be a good human being and wanted to be successful man in life, you should keep calm when other people around you are losing their temper. You should not lose your temperament even if others are blaming you for their faults.
Losing the temper does not solve a problem, rather intensifies it. Keeping the head cool makes you think wisely to face these tough situations, and ultimately a solution comes out.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
You should have the faith in yourself, even when others doubt you. But after that, you should give some importance to their doubt too and try to find out what may be the reason for their suspicion. After all, “To err is human…’
So, by keeping faith in yourself, you make sure that you don’t get demoralized or disheartened. And, by allowing others’ doubt a little space of thought, you ensure that you are not doing something wrong knowingly or unknowingly.
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
You should work hard and wait for the result patiently. You should not get tired by waiting
There are a number of real-life examples where people missed big opportunities only by losing their patience. Moreover, there goes a number of proverbs. “Hurry will bury you.” “Haste makes waste.” “Patience pays off.” So, it’s quite understandable why the poet makes a point for patience here.
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
People may lie about you to others, but you should not indulge yourself in lies. In other words, you should always remain truthful.
If you are misled or tempted to lie, people would ultimately discover the truth and won’t believe you anymore. That’s why it’s important to speak the truth even if that hurts you.
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
People may show their hatred towards you, yet you should not hate them. You should show your love and respect to others.
No man or woman is perfect in this world. Everyone has his strengths and weaknesses. You must accept that and respect them for the good qualities in them
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
You should not show yourself as too good a person or talk too wisely with common people, even after possessing such qualities.
Having acquired all these good qualities mentioned above, people generally feel proud and tend to show off how good they are. But the warns you not to go that way. In that case, others would feel uncomfortable in your company and avoid you. Even others may try to prove you wrong at any cost, leading to an unhealthy competition.
2nd Stanza
If you can dream —and not make dreams your master:
To do something bigger, you should dream first. But the poet also reminds you not to be guided by unrealistic dreams. If dreams take the driver’s seat, you will get detached from reality and eventually fail.
There goes a saying — “You have dream first before your dream can come true.” So, we should dream to reach great heights in life, but keeping the reality in mind.
If you can think —and not make thoughts your aim:
You should be able to think over a matter, but you should not make the thoughts your aim. That is to say that you often lose your radar and get detached from the main point. So, your thinking should not be scattered misleading you away from your target.
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
Life is a combination of success and failure, joy and sorrow, good times and bad times. So, you should accept both and face both situations with similar treatment.
Here the poet personifies Triumph and Disaster, calling them ‘two impostors’ (Pretenders or Deceivers). People become so happy in success that they can forget their duty at hand. You may get too complacent to be proud at a small success, reducing your chances to reach higher goals. Again, at bad times, if you are too grieved to lose your faith and confidence. In both cases, your regular course of work is hampered. That is why the poet calls Triumph and Disaster are ‘two imposters. He asks you to treat those deceivers with equal treatment with smiling face. In short, you should not be too happy or too sad under any circumstances.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
You must bear the tough situations where you see that your speech or statement is distorted by someone to befool others.
Very often you see that people misinterpret or even deliberately distort your words to use it in their favour. You should not lose your temper hearing that. Rather you should tolerate that, ensuring you have spoken the truth.
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;
You must hold your nerves even after seeing that your favourite thing that you have built over the time with your own efforts is broken. Then you must pick up the scattered parts and build it all over again. This is another key to success and getting over the top of the world, according to the poet.
To keep you cool is not easy in such a situation. But patience and the mental toughness would help you build them again. Indeed, there is a story about Isaac Newton that the papers containing his theories were destroyed in fire, and he wrote them again from the beginning.
3rd Stanza
If you can make on 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;
You should be able to accumulate all you have and take a risk in one turn of the game of pitch-and-toss. You may lose the game and all your possessions. But you must stay calm without uttering a word about that loss and rebuild it from the beginning.
Here the poet talks about the capability of taking big risks to achieve much greater success and keeping quiet even if we lose the bet. This is yet another aspect of our mental toughness that you need to possess.
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!”
In the above four lines the poet reiterates the same theme of mental strength and the power of Wil. You must force your body (heart, nerve, and sinew) to serve you even after it has lost its strength due to old age or illness. Thus, you should keep on working driven by the power of Will which would ask them (heart, nerve, and sinew) to ‘hold on’ compelling them to do their job.
If you want to do something great from your heart, the will inside you would prevent the body from getting tired. Indeed, there goes a proverb: “When going gets tough, the tough gets going.”
4th Stanza
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings —nor lose the common touch.
You should stay in touch with people from every class of the society. You should be able to talk with common mass without losing your virtue or moral values. Again, you should be able to walk with kings without going beyond the reach of the common people.
Being in touch with common people would help you realize the reality and feel the needs of the society. On the other hand, being in touch with noble people would give you the power and opportunity to reach your higher goals.
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
You should build yourself strong enough, mentally, and physically, so that neither your enemies nor your loving friends can hurt you. Moreover, you should develop healthy relationship with everyone around you, and should not allow anyone to harm you.
You must develop your personality in the right way, so that everyone supports you and gives you importance (count with you), but none too much. If you allow someone to give you too much importance, you may be emotionally bound. That may restrict our freedom and prevent you from doing your duty. Or you may get emotionally complacent thinking that you are so much liked by others, thus reducing your effort.
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Time is precious. A minute is filled with sixty seconds. Time (minute) is here called unforgiving, as it waits for none and doesn’t forgive him who wastes it. You should utilize every minute of our life in productive work. Wasting time is not something you can afford in your short lifespan.
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.
And —which is more —you’ll be a Man, my son.
Finally comes the achievement that you can get if you fulfill all the conditions mentioned so far. You can win this Earth and everything in it. You can go to top of the world and rule over everything. And what is more, you should be a complete and perfect human being.
Note: we should not forget that Rudyard Kipling wrote this poem for his son, as it is addressed in the last line of the poem. The poet wanted to show his son the right way to be a future successful leader. But it has inspired many people in their journey of life.
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