If - Rudyard Kipling

He forgets the line in the first stanza "If you can wait and not be tired by waiting".
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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 all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath 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!


--Rudyard Kipling

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[Abrumador8]

It's the best interpretation of the poem I've heard so far

[basketballjones120]

chills

[MadSciStuff]

@Abrumador8

You need to see this one: /watch?v=hAejmFrO_6Y

It's magnificent if you could just try to ignore the sound quality.

[m52spy]

@capio78

Agreed, the timing is not quite right for my liking.

[thenutintheushanka18]

@ABW941 I saw it not as an argument for serenity as much as a argument for stoicism: Don't appear overexcited, and try to stay calm no matter what happens.

[gwizdawka]

Bravo!

[ABW941]

I dont really like it in its entirety, it is a little bit too buddhistic in its philosophy.

I like the part about not giving up, but not the whole thing about treating everything the same way, no matter if you win or lose.

Serenity is not a virtue.

[Gracey066]

i love this poem so much. Because it translates the few virtues that are common to all religions and beliefs.

[janedrill]

Why does it always sound like an advertisement when the accent is north american.

[magicblanket]

Doesn't he also speed-recite this in Apocalypse Now Redux?

[jaqqqqqqattack]

@czechreck As a Catholic this is my night-time prayer as well. One of a few but it's there.

In addition I think this is so much better than another performance of Hopper's on YouTube - he sounds SO stoned on the other one.

[cashcrew]

@czechreck my prayer is "how did you die" by edmund cooke