22 Oct 2022

If you can keep your head when all about

you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

To be a good human being and to succeed in

life, we should keep calm when other people

around us are losing their cool. We should

not lose our temperament even if others are

blaming us for their fault.

Losing the temper does not solve a problem,

rather intensifies that. Keeping the head

cool makes us think wisely to face those

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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;

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We should have the faith in ourselves, even

when others doubt us. But after that, we

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…’.

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So, By keeping faith in ourselves we make

sure that we don’t get demoralized or

disheartened. And, by allowing others’

doubt a little space of thought, we ensure

that we are not doing something wrong

knowingly or unknowingly.

If you can wait and not be tired by

waiting,

We should work hard and wait for the result

patiently. We 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

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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.

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

People may lie about us to others, but we

should not indulge ourselves in lies. In

other words, we should always remain

truthful.

If we are misled or tempted to lie, people

would ultimately discover the truth and

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won’t believe us anymore. That’s why it’s

important to speak the truth even if that

hurts us.

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

People may show their hatred towards us,

yet we should not hate them. We should show

our love and respect to others.

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No man or woman is perfect in this world.

Everyone has his strengths and weaknesses.

We have to accept that and respect them for

the good qualities in them.

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And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too

wise:

We should not show us 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 poet warns us not to go that

way. In that case, others would feel

uncomfortable in our company and avoid us.

Even others may try to prove us wrong at

any cost, leading to an unhealthy

competition.

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Second stanza

If you can dream—and not make dreams your

master;

To do something bigger, we should dream

first. But the poet also reminds us not to

be guided by unrealistic dreams. If dreams

take the driver’s seat, we would get

detached from reality and eventually fail.

There goes a saying – “You have to 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

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aim;

We should be able to think over a matter,

but should not make the thoughts our aim.

That is to say that we often lose our radar

and get detached from the main point. So

our thinking should not be scattered

misleading us away from the 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. We should accept both and face both

situations with similar treatment.

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Here the poet personifies Triumph and

Disaster, capitalizing and calling them

‘two impostors’ (pretenders or cheaters).

People becomes too happy in success and

forgets their duty at hand. We may also get

too complacent or proud at a small success,

reducing our chances to reach higher goals.

Again, at bad times, if we are too grieved,

we may lose our faith and confidence. In

both cases, our regular course of work is

hampered. That is why the poet calls

triumph and disaster ‘two impostors’. He

asks us to treat those deceivers similarly,

with a smiling face. In short, don’t be too

happy or too sad under any circumstances.

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If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve

spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

We have to bear the tough situations where

we see that our speech or statement is

distorted by someone to befool others.

Very often we see that people misinterpret

or even deliberately distort our words to

use it in their favour. We should not lose

our temper hearing that. Rather we should

tolerate that, ensuring we have spoken the

truth.

Or watch the things you gave your life to,

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broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out

tools:

We have to hold our nerves even after

seeing that our favourite thing that we

built with all our effort and time is

broken. Then we have to pick up the

scattered parts and build it all over

again. This is another key to getting to

the top of the world, according to the

poet.

To keep our cool is not easy in such a

situation. But patience and the mental

toughness would help us build them again.

Indeed, there is a story about Newton that

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the papers containing his theories were

destroyed in fire, and he wrote them again

from the beginning.

Third Stanza

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;

We should be able to accumulate all we have

and take a risk in one turn of the game of

pitch-and-toss. We may lose the game and

all our possessions. But we have to stay

calm without uttering a word about that

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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 we 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 four lines above the poet continues

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the same theme of mental strength and the

power of Will. We have to force our body

(heart and nerve and sinew) to serve us

even after it has lost the strength due to

old age or illness. Thus we should keep on

working driven by the power of Will which

would ask them (heart and nerve and sinew)

to ‘hold on’ compelling them to do their

job.

If we want to do something great from our

heart, the Will inside us would prevent the

body from getting tired. Indeed, there goes

a proverb: “When going gets tough, the

tough gets going.”

Fourth stanza

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If you can talk with crowds and keep your

virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common

touch,

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We should stay in touch with people from

every class of the society. We should be

able to talk with common mass without

losing our virtue or moral values. Again,

we should be able to walk with kings

without going beyond the reach of the

common people.

The common touch would help us realize the

reality and feel the needs of the society.

On the other hand, the noble touch would

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give us the power and opportunity to reach

higher goals.

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt

you,

If all men count with you, but none too

much;

We should build ourselves strong enough,

mentally and physically, so that neither

enemies nor loving friends can hurt us.

Moreover, we should develop healthy

relationship with everyone around us, and

should not allow anyone to harm us.

We have to develop our personality the

right way, so that everyone supports us and

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gives us importance (count with you), but

none too much. If we allow someone to give

us too much importance, we may be

emotionally bound. That may restrict our

freedom and prevent us from doing our duty.

Or, we may get complacent thinking that we

are so much liked by people, thus reducing

our effort.

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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. We

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should utilize every minute of our life in

productive work. Wasting time is not

something we can afford in our 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 we can

get if we fulfill all the conditions

mentioned so far. We can win this earth and

everything in it. We can go to top of the

world and rule over everything. And what is

more, We would be a complete and perfect

human being.

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We should not forget that Kipling wrote

this poem for his son, as it is addressed

in the very last line. The poet wanted to

show his son the right way to be a future

leader. But it has inspired many a man in

their journey of life on earth so far.

Questions & Answers ❯

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Related Questions

Qualities which ‘make a man’ according to

the poet in ‘If’

What does the poet say about lies and hate

in ‘IF’?

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Do you think the poem ‘If’ is relevant in

today’s world?

How should a person develop humility in

life?

How can power of Will help a persone?

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