IF by Rudyard Kipling

Wimbledon 1980. McEnroe vs Borg.

IF by Rudyard Kipling

There is an engraved phrase on the Centre Court players’ entrance wall at the British tennis tournament in Wimbledon. It is a quote from Kipling’s poem “IF”:

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same”.

While the quote beautifully matches sports’ highest spirit and value, the message goes beyond the playing courts. Once you read the poem, you fully appreciate its inspirational power. It is a universal invocation for a wise mindset. It won’t only be your compass along your life’s journey, but, like Kipling, you will gladly share it with your loved ones.

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!

In this short video, English actor Michael Caine beautifully recites IF by Rudyard Kipling, one of his favourite poems. I hope it becomes one of your favourites too. I also found an Audible version of the poem, still read by the one and only Michael Caine.

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