If you have read Rudyard Kipling's poem "IF"--What line do you like most and why?

Question

How about 2 lines

Answer 1

"If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch"

...has always been my favorite line of the poem, though I'll admit there are others that seem more applicable; not many of us have the opportunity to "walk with Kings." Nevertheless, I love Kipling's implications in that line: Be Yourself. Be strong enough to keep your integrity and to speak truth no matter what company you're in, and if it's your lot to "walk with Kings" then stay the same person that talked with crowds as if they were kings.

Great question...a pleasure!

(2) "...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..."

...i couldn't agree with Kipling more in including here that one of the necessary qualifications of "being a man, my son" requires that one does not repay lies with lies, or hate with hate, but rather forgives for the evil done against them. he continues with a gentle reminder that we don't "look too good" or "talk too wise" as it is not eloquence or charm that are desired, but moral quality and just as important, a sense of humility that just because you're following this "higher calling" you're not better than anyone.

Answer 2

Well, this Q sure takes me back. . .

Years ago, when I was a kid, forced to memorize a ton of poems in school, this was the only one I liked. I mean, after all, what does "October's Bright Blue Weather" say to or for a ten-year-old boy?

My favorite lines then were

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!

Honestly, I don't think I paid much attention to all those if's. I just liked the end result. The others—well, I just liked the way they sounded. Rote memory did the rest.

Some years later, as a young adult, I could remember only the first two lines and the end:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .you’ll be a Man, my son!

Whether that was a failure of memory or a selection of lines appropriate to the time, I’m not sure.

Now that I’ve reached an age that I can be called technically and officially “elderly,” I know what my favorite lines should be:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone

But, you know, the single line that has spoken for me for all time, and that I wish the world would take to heart is this one:

If all men count with you, but none too much

I try to listen to all men (and women), to care for all, to respect them all, to wish the best for all, but I also always try to think for myself, and not be taken in by the glib, the manipulative, the Machiavellian, the powerful. I try to celebrate heroes, not celebrities, to celebrate myself for what I am and accept myself for what I am not. I try to appreciate those who have supported and encouraged me: loved ones, teachers, mentors, colleagues, friends, father-figures, role models, leaders, those of good will and good humor. But not to idolize. Even my heroes, and my most dearly beloved, deserve that I not expect them to be ideal or perfect. I know that I could not have lived the wonderful life I have without the thoughtfulness and generosity of others.

So, yes, I hope I have shown that with me, all men count. All: black, brown, white, male, female, young, old, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Zoroastrian . . ., whatever nationality, whatever their vocation, whatever their marital/family status, whatever their sexual orientation, whatever their income (especially whatever their income).

And I hope that I have shown appropriate gratitude for those who have counted so very much for me (and that lovely, loving woman who has counted most of all!).

Yep, that one line is my favorite. No doubt about it. But you have to read it in context:

If all men count with you, but none too much
. . . . .
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- what's more -- you've been a Man, my son!

A man who counts, but not too much.

Answer 3

It has to be...

"If you can keep your head when all around are losing theirs"

There seems to be a lot of people in the news losing theirs right now. Also, the people I admire most are those that show real un-flappability in a crisis, such as airline pilots and nurses.

Answer 4

It's actually two lines, but I would have to say:


"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same"

Would have to be my favorite part. It helps me remember that there is no real triumph until Heaven, and no real disaster until Hell.

Answer 5

Bad poem. Too much machismo. Try Jungle Books instead.