How to be a man
If you can maintain composure while everyone else around you is losing it and putting it on you;
If you can believe in yourself when everyone else doubts you, but allow for their skepticism as well:
If you can wait without becoming tired of waiting, or if you're being lied to, don't deal in falsehoods, or if you're being disliked, don't give in to hatred, but keep your appearance modest and refrain from sounding too wise;
If you have the ability to dream without making them your master;
If you can think without making your thoughts your goal,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and deal equally with those two imposters:
If you can stand to see the things you dedicated your life to fall apart and stoop to repair them with rusted tools; if you can bear to hear the truth you have uttered Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools;
If you can gather up all of your profits in one place, wager it on one round of pitch and toss, lose, and then restart from scratch while remaining completely silent about your defeat:
If you can make your heart, mind, and muscles work for you long after they are gone, then hold on even when all that is left of you is the will that commands you to do so.
If you can interact with crowds while maintaining your morality,
Neither abandon the common touch nor walk with Kings,
If loving friends and enemies cannot harm you,
If you have the support of all males, but not too many:
If you can get through the merciless minute
The Earth and everything on it are yours when sixty seconds have passed.
Additionally, my son, you will become a man.