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Welcome to ALL THINGS IFtm, a nonprofit blog for people inspired by the kind of personal philosophy expressed in poem If by Rudyard Kipling. If you are here on our site, Kipling’s If is probably more than just a bit of pleasant reading for you. Reading Kipling’s If has probably stirred something deep within you, something buried under the cynicism of our age, under the disappointments of your defeats, under the apathy of the daily grind – this poem has awakened a desire in you to become the Person you know you were born to be. If that description of you hits the nail on the head, start reading with the current magazine issue. To find out who we are and why we started this project go to the “About Us” page. Also, here is the link to “If You Can Write…” Writing Competition which celebrates the ideals of Kipling’s If (in our “Forum” section). To read entries, make an entry into the contest and to vote for the entries on ALL THINGS IFtm Forum you must be logged into the site (which requires registration).

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 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 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!

To hear Kipling’s If made into a song

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“IF you can write …” 2012

All Things If announces our Inaugural Writing Competition to celebrate the Ideals expressed in classic poem If by J. Rudyard Kipling, with cash prizes for Fiction and Non-Fiction.

Click here for details!


The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

~ Ovid