quote · Legacy record
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 away to hating And yet don't look too good nor talk to 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 imposters just the same 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 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!
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 away to hating And yet don't look too good nor talk to 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 imposters just the same 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 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!
Approximate author period: c. 1900 AD · modern
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Rudyard Kipling
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1900 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1865 to 1936; Wikidata Q34743, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q34743 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided quotation collection
Supplied reference C; CSV row 398123; supplied attribution, independently unverified
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.