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
Powered by MyDiary
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;
Advertisements
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…’.
Powered by MyDiary
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
Powered by MyDiary
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.
Advertisements
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
Powered by MyDiary
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.
Advertisements
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.
Powered by MyDiary
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.
Powered by MyDiary
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
Powered by MyDiary
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.
Powered by MyDiary
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.
Powered by MyDiary
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,
Powered by MyDiary
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
Powered by MyDiary
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
Powered by MyDiary
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
Powered by MyDiary
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
Powered by MyDiary
If you can talk with crowds and keep your
virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common
touch,
Advertisements
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
Powered by MyDiary
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
Powered by MyDiary
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.
Advertisements
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
Powered by MyDiary
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.
Powered by MyDiary
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 ❯
ShareTweetEmailWhatsapp
Cite this page
Advertisements
Related Questions
Qualities which ‘make a man’ according to
the poet in ‘If’
What does the poet say about lies and hate
in ‘IF’?
Powered by MyDiary
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?
Powered by MyDiary
