From the poem If: In what way do people make their dreams their master?

If you can
dream - and not make dreams your master; 
If you can think - and not make
thoughts your aim;

If you can
dream and make use of your dreams, then it is good to dream, but if all you do is dream,
and nothing ever comes of your dreams, then you have allowed your dreams to master you
or control you. Some people only dream. They never work hard to make their dreams come
true. They allow their dreams to consume them. Dreaming becomes a way of life, but their
dreams never come true. That is when the dream is the master. The dream is in
control.

It is the same way with thoughts. Some people
think on thoughts and spend their life in a day dream, thinking on thoughts that never
bring about results.

Truly, some people dream too much. All
they do is dream. They start working on one dream, and, before they can make it come
true, they are dreaming again, and then working on that dream. Unfortunately, they never
make any dream become a reality.

When you have a dream, you
have to set goals to make that dream come true. If all you ever do is dream, none of
your dreams will ever come to past. You will spend all your time dreaming with no
manifestation of your dreams. Ultimately, too much time is wasted dreaming. That is when
dreaming has become a negative factor in your life. The dream has become master over
you.