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If...
If... 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 ! You cannot conceive the many without the one. |
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my friend Pam posted this today on the face thing and since it had been years since I read it, I read it over again and again. out loud. it is of course by Rudyard Kipling. it is also timeless. except perhaps for the reference to pitch and toss (smiles). as I read it aloud it gave me goose bumps. I hope it gives you goose bumps. and thanks to another blogger's pirate verse that also inspired me today in rather the same vein. You cannot conceive the many without the one.
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8/13/2018 2:12 pm |
Very insightful words 👍.
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It's a long time since I've read that one, too (thanks for providing the author in your comment, I don't think I would have remembered that). Good stuff...
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I'm just posting for points
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Hello WE Wonderful Words When I worked at Airbus, the quote was "If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs. You Obviously don't understand the Situation!!" Please visit my Blog "Older but no Wiser"
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This is a great prose, thank you so much for sharing and such true words too. I hope today is a great start to your week..
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OMG! NO wonder I have trouble finding the right date ... I'm a man! Thanks, Rudyard! Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation bangs on the door forever!
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8/13/2018 7:47 pm |
Nicely worded Lets get the conversation rolling
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RK was agreat writer, I have his collected works right in front of me, have read them so many times I tie them together with a ribbon. Same with Jack London, and let us never to forget, Robert W. Service (if you havnt heard of him, google him, and YOU will recognise his stories)
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I'm sure I was assigned to read that once upon a time. I appreciate it more today, though, because it never took hold in my head like it should have. Thanks for posting. Made me veer off and spend an hour reading about Kipling, who I've always liked, but much like this poem, not enough stayed with me. Fun fact: turns out, he spent a year palling around with Mark Twain, and they shared a deep admiration for each other's work. Sounds about right. Struck me that the modern politician would could do worse than read and appreciate these two lines -- If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
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I've always loved Kipling. It still amazes me that so many people have never Kippled. Much of his stiff is dated but that never bothered Shakespeare so I don't see why it should bother Kipling either. Of course Kipling can be pompous. He was a member of a colonizing race treading on a subjugated people. But he didn't have to condescend to honor the manhood of the Empire's enemies or allies, as in "Gunga Din" or "The Ballad of East and West". Other great humanitarians were schooled in the British Raj, George Orwell for one and E.M. Forster for another. Thanks for remembering this for me, wicked. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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