约瑟夫·鲁德亚德·吉卜林 (Joseph Rudyard Kipling 1865 - 1936)英国作家及诗人，1907年诺贝尔文学奖获得者，迪士尼动画片《森林王子》的原作者。

“忍性”在古中国是上等美德，孟子说“天将降大任于是人也…所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能。” 在古代西方也有一派强调“忍性”的修身哲学，泛称为“斯多葛主义”，其中最著名的可能要算公元二世纪时的古罗马皇帝马可·奥勒留， 他留下了一本《沉思录》，阐述了他所推崇的美德。据前总理温家宝在任时的一次公开讲话，他对《沉思录》极端推崇，“这本书天天放在我的床头，我可能读了有100遍，天天都在读。” 这么说，温家宝是一个现代中国的斯多葛主义者。究其原因，实际上是因为斯多葛主义与中国传统文化中的很多精髓是息息相通的。

吉卜林 诗“如果 ”形式上是一个父亲对儿子的期望，阐述了斯多葛主义的美德。全诗只有一个长句，其句型是“如果…那么”，但是吉卜林 重复了十二次“如果”，加上“并且”（and)和“或者”(or)等连词来连接分句或短语，将多种美德如坚韧、冷静、自信、宽容、耐心、诚实等编织成一首起伏跌宕的动人诗歌。

请欣赏英国著名电影演员迈克尔·凯恩爵士 （Michael Caine 1933 - ）朗读该诗的视频。

If—

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 wornout 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 breathe 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!