Defining Awesome — If you can dream
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  • If you can dream

    Written by . Posted at 6:17 pm on April 15th, 2008

     “If” by 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 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 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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    12 comments.

    1. A Stand-up Philosopher

      If you can finish Berserker…

      Sorry, couldn’t resist. 😉


    2. I like the text hard to be like that though!


    3. Mangled Mind

      Yes… Back to the old days where poems ruled the world…


    4. Is it just me or a lot of guest as quit your boat (or wagon if you prefer)?

      They can rule the world just need a carismatic dude to tell them!


    5. Not much to say really, I prefer the posts where MM would post something, then SNK would come along and argue and then MM would argue and blah blah blah…Fun times.


    6. I wouldnt. I love this one.


    7. Not much to say really, I prefer the posts where MM would post something, then SNK would come along and argue and then MM would argue and blah blah blah…Fun times.

      Yeah..

      Maybe this will work:

      BigbossSNK: Solipsism is the only rational philosophy and I dare you to prove it wrong.


    8. bigbossSNK

      Must… resist… baiting…
      dare… truth…
      Damn you archont…


    9. Tallacaps

      Too many orders to be a man. No man in earth then.


    10. LightSniper (aka Laser Guy)

      Lol, I had to memorize thispoem in 7th grade for an English project. Eh, good old times. Good luck on your current and upcoming projects!


    11. Greatestness in people such as I am the most of, requires no dreaming.


    12. Hi There!

      I found your blog while looking for posts of the poem “If.” I love seeing all the different types of blogs that the poem turns up on. A group of “If” enthusiasts have created a blog devoted to the ideals of the poem at http://www.allthingsif.org. Would you consider linking back to our site underneath this post of the poem? Thanks for your consideration!!
      Susan


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