I was reminded of this Teddy Roosevelt speech today by a quote published at Cultural Offering, which brought to mind the excellent series about Tom Brady, the GOAT, who has been "in the arena" all his life. I also thought of the brave souls who jump in every day, whether the arena of words, or other conflict, and who suffer the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat". The critics, naysayers, and other human vermin who presume to judge the actual warriors are despicable. How are you going to live your life?
“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 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 and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the 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 he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
—Theodore Roosevelt
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
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