If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew / To serve your turn long after they are gone,
Commentary
Commentary
There are seasons when duty outlasts ease. Endurance often means continuing faithfully after enthusiasm has already left.
Kipling's line is severe, but not theatrical. It names the difficult middle stretch where character carries what feeling can no longer carry by itself.
Its force comes from realism. Many worthwhile outcomes are reached by borrowed strength from cultivated discipline.
Commentary
Commentary