If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs, & 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 & not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, not take part 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—& not make dreams your master;
If you can think—& not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph & 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 & 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 & toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart & nerve & 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 to crowds & 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 60 seconds’ worth of distance run—
Yours is the earth & everything in it,
And, which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
