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As far as "words to live your life by", I've never found anything better than "If", by Rudyard Kipling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If— http://en.wikipedia.org

As far as "words to live your life by", I've never found anything better than "If", by Rudyard Kipling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If— http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If— The two are quite similar, but "If" feels like it acknowledges human failing more openly that Desiderata. At least to me. Sad fact: He wrote it for his dead son. EDIT: My "sad fact" might be wrong.

arethuza 14y ago
There are a number of interesting links from that page, including Invictus, but perhaps the most interesting is the reference to this from Theodore Roosevelt (which has a wonderful connection to Rugby and Nelson Mandela): It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_in_a_Republic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_in_a_Republic I'm going to give that link to my teenage son who aspires to be a national level Rugby player! :-)
- _djo_ 14y ago
  Yep, that was the passage that Nelson Mandela gave to Francois Pienaar before the final, not Invictus. I'm not sure why Eastwood chose to use the latter poem instead.
js2 14y ago
If- was written in 1895. I believe his son was born a couple years later. Maybe confusing it with "My Boy Jack"?
codeulike 14y ago
the stuff in "If" is far too hard to live by, surely?
- riffraff 14y ago
  IMVHO, it definitely is, but it's a good list of things to aspire to.
  - tomelders 14y ago
    Aim high! Where ever you land should be ok.
    - codeulike 14y ago
      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 Show me a startup founder that could do that without blogging about it.

arethuza 14y ago

There are a number of interesting links from that page, including Invictus, but perhaps the most interesting is the reference to this from Theodore Roosevelt (which has a wonderful connection to Rugby and Nelson Mandela): It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_in_a_Republic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_in_a_Republic I'm going to give that link to my teenage son who aspires to be a national level Rugby player! :-)

_djo_ 14y ago
Yep, that was the passage that Nelson Mandela gave to Francois Pienaar before the final, not Invictus. I'm not sure why Eastwood chose to use the latter poem instead.

js2 14y ago

If- was written in 1895. I believe his son was born a couple years later. Maybe confusing it with "My Boy Jack"?

codeulike 14y ago

the stuff in "If" is far too hard to live by, surely?

riffraff 14y ago
IMVHO, it definitely is, but it's a good list of things to aspire to.
- tomelders 14y ago
  Aim high! Where ever you land should be ok.
  - codeulike 14y ago
    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 Show me a startup founder that could do that without blogging about it.