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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 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 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 to 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!
-thank you Rudyard Kipling