Finally got my "If" tattoo done today...

Pic is attached...here's a copy of the poem for any who aren't familiar with it.

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

Tags: if, kipling, rudyard, tattoo

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Permalink Reply by thehuhman on July 29, 2009 at 1:59pm
Nice!
Permalink Reply by Neil Tate on July 29, 2009 at 7:09pm
Nice one.

How many community points is that worth?
Permalink Reply by Joseph L. Rogers on July 29, 2009 at 8:14pm
Kipling effin' RULES! IF is one of my favorite pieces of all time, and it's been an inspiration COUNTLESS times. Nice. Very nice.
Permalink Reply by Will on July 29, 2009 at 11:09pm
I like it.
Permalink Reply by Jack Donovan on July 29, 2009 at 11:42pm
One of the manliest and most inspiring poems ever written.

Great idea for a tattoo.
Permalink Reply by Chris Hutcheson on July 30, 2009 at 8:03am
Hahaha thanks man.
Permalink Reply by Michael D. Denny on October 7, 2009 at 10:21pm
Or shave his beard into the shape of his tattoo.
Permalink Reply by Michael J. Austin on July 30, 2009 at 9:33am
Nice tat Chris !!!!!!!!!
Permalink Reply by Brett McKay on July 31, 2009 at 1:08am
Pretty dang awesome dude.
Permalink Reply by John Clanton on July 31, 2009 at 10:14am
Awesome tattoo!
Permalink Reply by Jason P. Franklin on August 2, 2009 at 4:05pm
Excellent tat. Nice lettering and great backstory.

Oh, yea, nice beard too.
Permalink Reply by Scott Schumpert on August 2, 2009 at 4:12pm
Nice!, I like the lettering too.

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