Man in the Arena
“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 up short
again and again,
because there is no effort
without error and shortcoming,
but who knows the great enthusiasms,
the great devotions,
who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who, at best,
knows,
in the end,
the triumph of high achievement,
and who,
at the worst,
if he fails,
at least he fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be
with those cold and timid souls
who neither know victory
nor defeat.”
– US President Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909